A Life of Lies
by Holz9364
Summary: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter haven't seen each other for 10 years until they meet on Diagon Alley, they are both married with children but can they really pretend their feelings for each other don't exist? M for later chapters.
1. A Surprise Meeting on a Crowded Street

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 1 - A Surprise Meeting on a Crowded Street_

**_A/N - Okay so a couple of things I need to say. This fic is going to be about 10 chapters long and it's based on the Rascal Flatts song "He Ain't the Leavin' Kind"._**

**_It's slash obviously, and it's my first ever slash fic so here goes… Constructive criticism is always good! ;)_**

**_It's rated M for later chapters, I'm testing the waters, I'm not used to writing graphic sex scenes! XD  
><em>**

**_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's characters, it's all JK!_**

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><p>"Daaaaaaad."<p>

Harry Potter turned to the voice he knew so well, his 8 year old daughter Lily was standing by a shop window with her arms crossed, "I want to go into quality Quidditch supplies." Lily said.

Harry glanced at his watch, "We don't have a lot of time Lils." He said, but when her face fell he caved and sighed, "Alright go in and have a look, I need to go and get some stationary before the new term starts at Hogwarts, I'll meet you in the shop in 5 minutes."

Lily's face lit up, "Thanks Dad!" She said, skipping into the shop, she'd gotten her way like she always did with her Dad. Harry smiled and turned to cross the crowded street to get some new parchment and ink for the 1st of September when summer ended and he had to go back to his job of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

As Harry crossed the street he tried his best not to bump into anyone but it was the middle of August and there were people everywhere buying school supplies so that proved difficult and he had almost made it across the alley before he bumped into a man walking out of the shop he was going into. In the middle of the crowded alley they both stopped, apologising at the same time.

Harry looked up, he recognised that voice, he knew it well, "Draco." He whispered when he saw the blonde man staring back at him. He looked very similar to when Harry had last seen him so long ago, his hair was a little longer, not slicked back like it had been, his piercing grey eyes penetrated Harry's own green ones, and Harry said quietly, "It's been 10 years."

Draco didn't say anything as he stared at his ex-arch nemesis, amongst other things. Harry looked down when he heard a small voice whisper, "Daddy…"

Holding Draco's hand was a young girl who looked a few years younger than his own daughter, she had Draco's blonde hair and blue eyes she'd clearly inherited from her Mother. Harry was surprised, but he didn't have reason to be, this had been the plan after all and he had kids too, well, one kid.

Draco picked the young girl up in his arms and walked away without a word, Harry watched him leave, slightly shaken by the meeting. He didn't know how long he stood there for but a small hand tugged at his trousers and he jumped, he looked down to see Lily standing there, "Dad, what took you so long? I've been waiting ages." She complained.

Harry tried to pull himself together but he must have failed because Lily frowned, "Dad, are you okay? You look kind of weird." She said.

Harry took a deep breath and smiled down at his daughter, "I'm fine honey." He said and he grabbed her hand, forgetting about his office supplies he said, "Let's go home."

Lily seemed a little confused but she didn't say anything else as Harry walked to the apparation point and apparated to the doorstep of Grimmauld place, he and Lily entered the house, Lily ran off upstairs to play with the new chess set she'd gotten that day in Diagon Alley and Harry snuck past Ginny in the living room to go and stand on the balcony that led off from what had once been Buckbeak's room, after today's events he needed some air.

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><p>Astoria Malfoy was annoyed, ever since her Husband had come home from Diagon Alley with their eldest daughter Neve, he hadn't looked at her, Neve or their younger daughter Kathy. He had been avoiding everyone all day and when Astoria eventually found him hiding out on the roof of the mansion where he knew she wouldn't find him for a long time, it was late and dark.<p>

"How did you find me up here?" Draco asked, as she sat down next to him on the dirty roof.

"I figured that you'd be in the last place I decided to look." Astoria said logically, she made a face, "I had to go through the attic to get up here."

"I think that's the first time you've ever set foot in the attic since you moved into the mansion 10 years ago." Draco said lightly, he was looking out at the night sky rather than at her.

Astoria sighed, it wasn't like Draco to be so closed off, "I don't know what's wrong with you Draco but you haven't looked at the girls or me all day."

Draco frowned, looking down at his hands, it seemed like he was trying to decide whether to talk to her or shut her out, "I saw Harry today." He said finally.

Astoria's face fell, "Harry Potter?" She asked, Draco just nodded to confirm her worst fears.

They sat in silence for a moment, neither of them really knowing what to say, but Draco knew that his wife had to know the truth, whether she liked it or wanted to hear it, he'd have to tell her eventually anyway, "I saw him for the first time in 10 years Astoria and I just walked away with Neve, I didn't say a word…" He trailed off thoughtfully, "He has a daughter too I think, I saw her walking towards him as we were leaving."

There was more silence, Draco chanced a glance at Astoria and saw that she was upset, fighting back tears, "You still have feelings for him." She said, and it was a statement rather than a question.

"I shouldn't." Draco admitted, "It's been 10 years." He looked back out at the night sky, sighing deeply.

"And what does this mean for us Draco? For Neve, Kathy and me?" Astoria asked, still fighting the tears that threatened to fall, Draco looked at her, feeling guilty for the pain in her eyes.

"Are you going to walk away?" Astoria asked, and she sounded more broken than Draco had ever heard her.

Draco frowned, he shook his head immediately, "No, of course not Astoria. I love you, I'd never leave you and the girls, you're my world."

"Your world?" Astoria asked with a bitter laugh, "You might love us Draco, but you love Harry Potter too."

Draco opened his mouth to deny it but found that he couldn't, his voice caught in his throat, Astoria barked an angry laugh and stood up on the rooftop, "If you aren't walking away, then I am."

Draco stood too, "Astoria stop! We need to talk about this, you can't just leave, I haven't done anything wrong!"

"I don't think there's anything to talk about Draco." Astoria said as she moved toward the hatch leading down into the attic, "I need to do this, I can't be with someone who loves someone else." She went down the hatch and slammed it shut.

"I don't love him!" Draco shouted, but it was too late. Astoria had cast locking charms on the hatch and he couldn't get back in, the mansion was 5 floors high, there was no way he could jump off, for 20 minutes Draco tried everything to get off the roof but he stopped when he saw Astoria leave with a suitcase and his two daughters, 7 year old Neve and 5 year old Kathy, he shouted but they couldn't hear him and in the blink of an eye they'd twirled and with a crack were gone.

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><p>"Harry, why are you so quiet? Lily said you were acting odd when you went out today." Ginny said gently as she sat down next to her Husband on the sofa. Harry had a book in front of him but he wasn't reading it, he was staring blankly ahead, lost in thoughts and memories. Ginny's voice had pulled him out of his reverie and he glanced at her, getting his head together, "I saw Draco Malfoy today, with his daughter, she looked a few years younger than Lily. It just made me realise that it's been 10 years Gin."<p>

Ginny reached over and took his hand sympathetically, she didn't really understand the problem but she could tell that it was bothering him, "Why was seeing Malfoy so hard?" She asked, and Harry bit his lip, he glanced at the fire, "I can't talk about it." Harry admitted, and at the perfect moment the fire roared to life and Hermione Granger stepped out of it.

Hermione smiled at them both and sat down on the armchair across from them, "I'm glad you're going to tell Gin, Harry." She said, happily, but Ginny could see hesitation in her eyes.

"Tell me what? Harry's what's going on?" Ginny asked, frowning at this strange occurrence.

Harry sighed deeply, "Ginny, something happened 10 years ago before you and I got together, something I was afraid to tell you about, I was afraid if you knew you'd leave me, the only people who ever knew were Mi, and probably Astoria, you know Draco's wife?"

Ginny nodded and said quickly, "Yes, we work together at the Ministry, just tell me Harry, I'll try my best not to get angry, I swear." She said, her hand tightening around his.

Harry looked to Hermione for help, Ginny followed his gaze and looked at Hermione as she said, "10 years ago after the final battle do you remember Harry vanished for 3 months?"

Ginny nodded, of course she remembered, she'd been worried sick, "Yeah, and you all said it was because he needed some time alone after everything that had happened."

Hermione nodded back, "That's what I told everyone because Harry didn't want anyone to know the truth." She admitted, and she continued, "Harry saved Draco's life, he was nearly killed with the fiend fire and Harry saved him, after that Draco and Harry kissed."

Ginny was startled by this but didn't let go of Harry's hand, Hermione looked at Harry, she felt Ginny needed to hear this part from him, "We didn't really know what it meant, but we went away together, those 3 months I was with Draco in Europe and Australia, we were looking for Hermione's parents too of course and we found them like you remember."

Ginny nodded, trying so hard to take all of this in, Harry looked down, "We thought we were in love, but we knew what we were doing was wrong, he was a Malfoy, he needed a trophy wife and an heir, and I was always in the spotlight, if it had ever gotten out…" Harry trailed off, shuddering at the thought, "So we said goodbye and we hadn't seen each other since, until today."

Harry was surprised by Ginny's reaction, her hand remained in his, "I'm not mad at you." Ginny said, reaching up and kissing him on the cheek, "I think sometimes a person can love more than one person at the same time." She explained, "I loved you so much my whole teenage life, but I loved Dean just as much when I was with him."

Harry smiled softly at her, kissing her lightly on the lips, "Thank you." He said, her acceptance meant more than he could ever say to her, "I love you."

From the sidelines Hermione smiled, she was glad at the way Ginny had taken the news, she was very mature about the whole thing.

When Harry went to bed that night he thought about Draco, about where he was living and why he had moved back to England after spending the last 10 years in Scotland. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about him but today had shaken him up and he couldn't help it. Harry sincerely hoped for the sake of he and Ginny's relationship that he never had to see Draco Malfoy again.

**TBC.**


	2. It All Falls Apart

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 2 - It All Falls Apart_

_**A/N - So I hope I'm writing as in character as I can given the nature of the story. I've never written slash before so I'm testing the waters! **_

_**Anyhow, onto chapter 2!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: JK owns it all! **_

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><p>"Lily! Come downstairs and say goodbye to your Dad!" Ginny called up the stairs as Harry pulled his robes over his black suit trousers and black shirt, Ginny adjusted his tie and kissed him, they were interrupted by the sound of Lily saying "EWWWW!"<p>

Harry laughed, pulling away from his wife, "So where's my big hug since I won't see you for a week?" He asked and with a smile Lily hugged him tightly, Harry kissed her on the cheek, "You'll come stay with me at Hogwarts at the weekend." He said when he set her down after a spinning hug.

Ginny smiled, "I won't be able to make it this weekend." She admitted, "It's going to be crazy at work right now, you know with the Lestrange mansion raids."

Harry nodded, he understood, Ginny was an Auror, Harry had been too, but after Lily had been born he had switched to teaching so at least one of her parents wasn't in constant danger. Just recently the 'secret' Lestrange mansion had been found when the secret keeper blabbed before dieing of a terminal illness. Ginny and her team of Aurors would be in there for about two weeks gutting the place, so he understood why she had to work the weekend.

"Just me and you this weekend then kiddo." Harry said to Lily, she smiled and walked to the door with him, Ginny walked a little behind them, "I'll miss you this week Daddy." She said.

Harry's smile faltered a little, it was hard sometimes, the fact he had to stay at Hogwarts to patrol, he usually managed to come home two nights a week and he saw Lily and Ginny every weekend and every holiday, but the first term was always really busy so he had to stay all day and all night, which was tough on him and his family.

"I know, but just think of it this way, you'll see me in 5 days." Harry said, he forced a smile and gave Lily another hug, Harry kissed Ginny again, he said he loved them both and walked out onto the doorstep then apparated to Hogsmeade.

As he always did Harry walked up to the school and got a house elf to take his luggage to his room before walking into the great hall to join the other professors for the 'day before term starts meeting' as Minerva had christened it.

When Harry walked in he didn't notice anything odd until he sat down at the round table in the centre of the great hall and took notice of the person sitting across from him.

"Draco, what are you doing here?" Harry asked, he didn't know if he was angry, surprised or happy, his voice sounded odd.

The other teachers watched the exchange, Draco avoided looking at Harry as he replied, "I'm the new Potions master."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but then he shut it again. The meeting went on for about an hour and Harry and Draco avoided making eye contact the whole time. Eventually when they were dismissed Harry and Draco were the quickest out of the hall, they walked in the same direction but as far away from each other as possible as they headed to their quarters which Harry thought with dread, were probably near each other.

After what felt like forever Harry reached the portrait that led into his room, but before he could give the password he found himself being pinned against the hard stone wall by Draco.

"Astoria left me." Draco said, he sounded angry but all Harry could see in his eyes was pain, "She took my children and left me."

"Draco-" Harry began, but Draco just continued, "She left me because I saw you again and I told her, I don't know what the hell she thought but she left me."

"It was 10 years ago Draco." Harry said quietly and Draco's eyes met his for the first time since Harry had walked into the great hall.

"You think I don't know that?" Draco asked, his voice was just as quiet and for reasons Harry couldn't explain it sent shivers down his spine.

Harry knew what Draco was doing as he moved closer towards him, but for some reason which he again couldn't explain he did nothing to stop it, "Draco…" He whispered, in an attempt to stop what was about to happen.

Draco closed the gap between them and captured Harry's lips in a searing kiss, Harry's eyes fluttered shut and his hands went to Draco's hair as if on autopilot. Draco pressed him harder against the wall and ran his tongue along Harry's bottom lip, Harry's mouth opened with a moan and Draco began exploring his mouth as if it had been years since they'd done this, in actuality it had been, but Harry's mind wasn't really functioning properly at that moment in time.

It registered to Harry that this was wrong as the kiss got more and more heated and passionate, but he couldn't find the nerve to end it, he didn't want to end it, Draco pulled away, his face a little red, he and Harry both breathing deeply.

"That shouldn't have happened." Harry said, a small frown forming on his forehead.

"I know." Draco said, moving away from Harry and leaning against the opposite wall, he let out a groan, "Why does that still feel as good as it did 10 years ago?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted, he was so confused right now, "It shouldn't, we're both married now." He said, running a hand through his already messy hair, "To women." He added.

Draco looked at Harry for a long moment, "She left me because she thought I still had feelings for you, I didn't understand why she thought that at the time…" He trailed off.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Well, I guess you know why she thought that now." He said, and Draco glared at him, "I'm serious Harry, this can't happen. I've got to find a way to get Astoria back and live a normal life."

"Well you shouldn't have come back if that's what you wanted." Harry shot at him, he was annoyed now, things had been fine before Draco waltzed back into his life like this.

"I needed too." Draco said, glaring at Harry again, "My company went bust and we were struggling so we moved the manor back to England because Minerva offered me a job, but dear old Severus neglected to mention that you work here."

"That's because he's a meddler." Harry said, annoyed more at Severus than Draco now, he hadn't known after all, Severus had, "We can't do this, live in this castle together for a year Draco, we're colleagues we're going to have to communicate. We cant just jump each other in corridors."

Another glare was sent his way by the blonde, "Well we can hardly avoid each other either, can we?" He asked and Harry shook his head.

"God, this is complicated." Harry said, cursing under his breath. His life had been fine, it had been perfect, but now everything he'd ever known was up in the air, he loved Ginny and his daughter, he couldn't lose them, but there was now no denying that he still had feelings for Draco Malfoy.

Why was the life of Harry Potter never easy?

**TBC.**


	3. A Helping Hand

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 3 - A Helping Hand_

_**A/N - Ooh I'm loving writing this! I know where I'm going with it now and as long as I follow my plan (I'm totally OCD about following them!) this will be 10 chapters long then 11 including the epilogue.**_

_**Oh and in this story Severus didn't die in DH!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p>"Have I ever told you that I hate you?"<p>

"It's nice to see you too Draco." Severus Snape drawled as the younger man marched into his office glaring at him with his cold grey eyes.

"You didn't tell me Harry Potter was teaching here when you mentioned the job!" Draco exclaimed, focusing all of his anger into a glare and sending it at the old Potions master who had given up his classes to focus on running the school with Minerva. He wanted someone he trusted so he asked Draco if he wanted the job.

"I didn't realise it was a problem." Severus said coolly to his Godson, he watched him curiously.

"You didn't think it was a problem?" Draco shouted, he shook his head in disbelief, "Severus you know we-" He cut himself off, "Well, you know about…" He trailed off and Severus raised an eyebrow at him, "Your 3 month fling?" He asked.

Draco glared at the hook nosed Professor, "It wasn't a fling, it was…well it wasn't a fling, and now we're working together, we can't work together!" Draco began to pace the office, it was clear this was distressing him.

"Why not? You're in the dungeons, he's on the 3rd floor." Severus said logically, but Draco just sighed and sunk into one of the comfy emerald green chairs in the office, "We'll see each other at all meal times, that's three times a day!"

"There are 4 seats between you and Potter, you're being over-dramatic Draco." Severus said casually, he looked back to the book in his hands, "You're acting as if you still have feelings for him."

"I do!" Draco exclaimed, jumping up out of the seat to pace again, "I practically jumped him last night in the middle of the corridor!"

Severus chuckled and Draco turned to him in surprise at first, but then he glared at the man, "Why are you laughing?"

"Oh, I can just imagine the look on his face when you jumped him." Severus said as he chortled.

"Severus, this is serious! He kissed me back, he admitted he still has lingering feelings too." Draco ran his fingers through his hair, he no longer slicked it back like he had in school, it was a little longer and messier, but he messed it up even more through this action.

Severus narrowed his eyes at his Godson, "But you aren't going to act on it." He said firmly, "Because you're both married, and you both have children."

"I know." Draco said, sighing deeply, "I know I can't because it will screw everything up and I know I shouldn't because it's wrong, but Astoria's already left me, I don't know if I'll ever see my children again and I want it so badly."

Severus was the one doing the glaring now, "Draco Lucius Malfoy, pull yourself together right now. You have a wife, a beautiful wife who will come back to you when she has calmed down. You have two wonderful, amazing children and you will not screw up her life and their lives by shagging the boy who wouldn't bloody die!"

The advice was typical from what Draco expected from his cold Potions professor but it made Draco smile, which was what he needed, "You're right Severus." He said.

"Of course I am." Severus muttered, but Draco didn't hear him because he was too busy hurrying to the door, "I'm going to be late for my 1st class!" He called in a panicked voice as he ran along the corridor, Severus only shook his head in amusement at the boy.

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><p>Harry had taught all his classes with the same enthusiasm and practical work as he always did, to his students and to the other Professors he was fine, he hadn't changed, nothing was bothering him.<p>

However Harry was used to keeping his emotions bottled up, he told Ginny everything now but he hadn't always had that luxury so he managed to act fine when guilt was eating at his insides. He needed to talk to someone but he couldn't talk to Ginny of course and Ron would kill him, besides Ron didn't even know about Harry's 3 months with Draco and he wouldn't react well to that news.

Harry knew the only person he _could_ talk to was Hermione but she was working, she didn't usually get off of her work until after 10pm, she worked in the Ministry and Harry knew if he went there he ran the risk of bumping into Ron or Ginny who both worked there too, and he didn't want to have to explain this to them, but he didn't want to lie either. After an hour of tapping his foot nervously and downing shots of firewhiskey Harry decided he needed to talk to Hermione now or he'd go insane, it was only 7.30, he couldn't wait 3 hours to talk to her.

Harry floo-ed to the Ministry and tried to keep his head down, thankfully when he got the elevator no one else got in with him, he pushed the button for the 4th floor and went to the department for the protection of magical creatures. He arrived on the floor and walked right along the corridor to the office door on the end with the name 'Hermione Granger' engraved on it underneath the sign that said 'Head of Department'.

Harry knocked and heard Hermione's voice call, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Harry." He called back through the door, and immediately it clicked open, Harry walked in, closing the door behind him. Hermione smiled at him from where she was sitting on the couch with her feet up, she was soaking up the warmth from the fire and drinking red wine, Harry noticed that she'd had half the bottle already.

Harry smiled at her when he walked in, he knew Hermione's actual work finished at 7pm, but she didn't go home until late, "Avoiding the house again?" He asked as he sat down and poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle on the table. Hermione nodded, taking a sip from her glass, "Oh yes, I don't want to go home for another fight." She said.

"I don't blame you for hiding out here." Harry said honestly, "You knew you weren't happy in that marriage 4 years ago. Why stay with him?" Harry asked, drinking from his glass, oh how he needed alcohol right now.

Hermione sighed deeply, "I have 4 children Harry, the way custody works they'd get split between Ron and I, I don't want to do that to them."

"Would you rather they grew up damaged from hearing their parents scream at each other every night?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, he'd lost count of how many times he and Hermione had this argument since she and Ron's marital troubles had started 4 years ago.

"Why did you have so many kids anyway?" Harry asked, "You were like always pregnant." He said thoughtfully, "I mean what 28 year old has 4 kids?"

"Uh, me clearly." Hermione replied with a glare.

"Well, you are a Weasley." Harry said cheekily, he smirked at her and she threw one of the pillows on the couch at him, "Cheeky!"

Hermione did answer his question though, "I don't know why I had so many kids." She said honestly, "I mean I love them all so much, but I guess it was just because Ron always wanted a big family like the one he grew up in and I hated being an only child."

Harry nodded, "I understand that." He said, "I always wanted a sibling for Lily, but it just never happened, we tried for 2 years and got nothing..." He trailed off, as if he was deep in thought.

"Well honestly, no one knows this but Ron." Hermione began and Harry perked up, he thought he knew everything about Hermione, she and he told each other things they couldn't tell their other halves. Hermione continued, "Two of ours weren't planned. Rose was an accident, we weren't even married and I was only 19. The twins were planned because I was 21 and had been working here for a year, but when Gwen came along that was another surprise."

Harry was rather surprised by that news, "I never knew that." He admitted, they were all rather young to be parents, but they didn't really think about it much. Lily had been born when Harry was 20 and Ginny was just 19, but that had been planned.

Hermione shrugged, "Like I said, I only ever told Ron, I'd never tell the kids that of course, I wouldn't want them to feel unwanted." Hermione drank from her wine again, sighing deeply.

"I still can't believe you named your daughter Guinevere." Harry said out of the blue, he chuckled and pointed at the picture on the wall signed with little Gwen's full name.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her best friend, "I like it." She admitted, "And I did used to love books about Merlin before I knew about the Wizarding world. King Arthur's great love, it's romantic."

Harry drank deeply from the glass of wine, "Love like that doesn't exist." He said, somewhat bitterly.

Hermione frowned, "You and Ginny are okay, right?" She asked.

Harry shrugged, "Oh yeah Ginny and I are fine, except I kissed Draco last night and haven't told her and it's killing me, but other than that, sure, no problems."

"You kissed Draco!" Hermione exclaimed and Harry groaned, "Well no, he kissed me, but I…well I didn't exactly encourage him to stop."

"Oh Harry, you still have feelings for him." Hermione realised, and she poured more wine into his glass before summoning another bottle from underneath her desk.

"Yes Hermione, I'd realised that." Harry said dryly, he was so grateful for the invention of alcohol right now, the ability to forget about your problems and let your mind go foggy really was great.

"So, what are you going to do?" Hermione asked, she seemed both interested and slightly surprised about what had happened between Harry and Draco.

"Nothing." Harry replied miserably, "Because I'm married to a woman and I'm not supposed to enjoy kissing men."

Hermione crossed her legs under her on the sofa, "But you do enjoy kissing men." She pointed out, sounding a lot like a therapist.

Harry shook his head, "No, just Draco." He said, which made it worse, "I mean there's only ever been Draco and Ginny in my life."

"And you love them both." Hermione said slowly, Harry nodded, "Yep, so you can see why I'm totally screwed."

"Hmm, I can." Hermione admitted, she looked at Harry sheepishly, "There's something I need to tell you about."

Harry narrowed her eyes at her best friend, "What is it?" He asked suspiciously.

Hermione bit her lip, "I understand better than you think, because I…well do you remember that time you found me in the castle one Sunday morning and asked why I was there?"

Harry nodded and Hermione bit her lip harder, "And do you remember all the work parties I've been too that I said Minerva invited me too?"

Harry nodded again, he was getting more suspicious by the second, Hermione took a deep breath, "And do you remember all the times I said I was by the castle to visit you?"

Harry nodded for a third time, "Hermione, are you telling me you have a thing for me?" He asked.

Hermione gaped at him, "What? No! Harry you fool." Hermione actually laughed.

Harry laughed too, but then he got serious again, "Wait a second, what are you saying then?"

Hermione groaned, "Harry, I'm having an affair." She admitted to her confident.

Harry had known this of course, she'd never said anything but it had been clear, "Well that much has been obvious for the last 4 years to be honest Mione, but I didn't realise it was someone in Hogwarts, who is it?" Harry's eyes widened, "Oh my God, is it Neville?" He asked.

Hermione shook her head, Harry frowned, deep in thought, who else at Hogwarts could Hermione be sleeping with? Flitwick was way too old, COMC was taught by Luna, most of the other Professors were female, except Professor Vector who was in his 60's.

"Then who Hermione?" Harry asked, Hermione looked very apprehensive, she picked up her wine and downed the half glass in one, "That bad huh?" He asked.

Hermione nodded, "Harry, try not to be mad. I'm sleeping with Severus."

Harry's jaw dropped, "Snape?" He asked in shock.

Hermione nodded and to her surprise Harry burst out laughing, "That makes so much sense." He exclaimed, "This has been going on for about 4 years right?" He asked.

Hermione nodded, completely astounded by this reaction to her big revelation, Harry just chuckled some more, "Severus has been so different in the last few years, he's been almost pleasant, we figured he was getting some, but honestly Hermione, I can't believe it was you."

Hermione glared at him, "Oh come on, I know he's a bit older but he's actually pretty decent."

Harry had stopped laughing, "No, I have no judgement, I actually kind of like the guy, and I'm a dirty cheater whose cheating on my wife with a man so really, no judgement here."

Hermione smiled that he hadn't gone crazy and fallen out with her, "I don't think Ron knows, he's so oblivious, he believes all my work related excuses."

"That's because I cover for you." Harry said, drinking from his wine glass which was nearly finished already, "And he does know you're having an affair, he just doesn't know who with which is probably just as well, but he's cheating on you too."

"I know." Hermione said casually as if they were discussing an article in the morning paper, "But I do know who he's with, Lavender Brown."

"Ah, I'm impressed." Harry said, finishing his second glass of wine and pouring himself a third, "How did you find out?"

"Well Ron's not exactly a genius, he forgets I have to wash his clothes, I found a rather graphic letter that was signed from Lavender Brown." Hermione explained calmly, she really didn't seem phased by this.

"Hm." Harry said, "She works on the floor below him way up about 10 floors higher than us." He said, "They met one day in the elevator." He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she laughed, "How trashy is that, elevator sex." She snorted.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her and she innocently smiled, "Harry I'm not trashy." She said, Harry chuckled, "No dirty sex on the desk of the potions classroom?"

Hermione blushed a little, "That only happened one time!" She said, fighting the blush away as Harry laughed, "Normally we have sex in normal places."

"Good to know." Harry said, still chuckling, "Can I just say, you and Ron have a really messed up marriage. You both know you're cheating on each other, you haven't had sex for like 4 years and you go about your daily business not speaking unless your arguing."

"Yes, I do know all of this." Hermione said with an eye roll as she poured herself more wine.

"You know you have to leave him, don't you?" Harry asked, seriously this time.

Hermione nodded and she handed Harry papers that were sitting on the top of her desk, "It's Nicholas and Samson's birthday on Sunday, I'm going to wait until after then to give them to him."

Harry looked at the papers he'd handed her, they were divorce papers, "Good." He said, "You're one step closer."

"Hmm." Hermione said in agreement, "Now you need to sort your marriage out, do you even know if you're gay or straight?" She asked, straight to the point as usual was Hermione.

Harry glared at her, "I'm not gay, it's only Draco, not men in general." He explained, which would have sounded odd to anyone apart from Hermione who had known him inside out for the past 10 years. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed Hermione and Severus's affair, he'd worked with Severus the whole time and he saw Hermione at least 4 times a week!

"Well you're going to have to choose, Ginny and a normal life with crappy sex, or Malfoy and a messed up life with great gay sex." Hermione said, she chuckled at the look on Harry's face at her words and he drank his whole glass of wine in one gulp, "You're so crude Mi." He said distastefully.

"Ah, but you love me for it." Hermione said, Harry only laughed, "I do." He admitted, standing up and steadying himself, that wine had gone right to his head, he kissed Hermione on the cheek, "Thank you for the…ah, enlightening, advice." He said with a chuckle.

Hermione grinned, "Always at your service!" She said, hugging him tightly as he made his way over to the office door.

"Same time next week?" Hermione asked with a smile as Harry's hand turned the door knob, Harry turned back to her with a matching grin, "Same time next week." He agreed as he left and again hurried through the Ministry so he wouldn't have to see his wife or his other best friend.

Harry floo-ed back to Hogwarts and checked the time, it was 9pm, he decided to go down to the kitchens, all that wine had given him an appetite. As Harry walked down to the kitchens he realised Hermione had been right, about choosing Ginny or Draco, he knew the right thing to do was choose Ginny, but he wanted to choose Draco.

Harry groaned when he saw Draco walking towards him as he came out of the grand staircase and Draco came out of the dungeons, Draco was smiling until seeing Harry wiped the smile from his face, "Potter." He said somewhat coolly, channelling Severus Snape apparently.

Harry stopped, if they were going to be friends they might as well start now, "Malfoy." He greeted the man, "Did you know that Hermione's been having an affair with Severus for the last 4 years?"

Draco frowned at him, "You didn't know?" He asked, Harry shook his head, "I just found out tonight, Hermione told me."

Draco laughed and it was a sound Harry had missed hearing, "You're her best friend and you've worked with him for 4 years and you didn't know? Jeez Potter you're so clueless."

Harry glared at Draco, "Whatever, I'm going to the kitchens for some food, do you want to come?"

Draco was hesitant at first but replied, "Sure." The two of them walked along the corridor to the portrait of the pear, and Draco eyed Harry with an air of suspicion, "Are you drunk?" He asked.

Harry snorted, "No!" He exclaimed, but when Draco raised an eyebrow at him he replied honestly, "Okay, I'm a little drunk, Hermione drinks this super strong wine and it goes right to my head."

"You're such a lightweight." Draco said in amusement as they walked into the kitchens, lots of elves ran over to them, and asked them what they wanted, Draco smiled at the elves and said, "Could you get us some sandwiches and a jug of water?"

The elves got busy working and Draco and Harry sat down at the small wooden table in the large room. Harry's alcoholic mind decided it was a good time to make that huge decision that had been giving him a headache.

"We're just friends Draco, what happened last night can't happen again." Harry said as the elves brought them a tray of sandwiches and both men grabbed some.

Draco nodded, swallowing the mouthful of sandwich, "I agree." He said thoughtfully, "I love my wife and children."

"So do I." Harry said, through a mouthful of sandwich, Draco rolled his eyes at him but held his hand out for Harry to shake.

Harry took it, "To being friends." He said, Draco smiled, "To being friends." He repeated, and the deal was sealed.

**TBC.**


	4. Thank God It's Friday

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 4 - Thank God it's Friday_

_**A/N - Okay so a couple of things!**_

_**This is mainly a Harry/Draco story, but there will be other pairings mentioned some briefly and some quite often. One is Severus/Hermione obviously, another is Ron/Lavender. There will also be hints of Neville/Luna later on. **_

_**So if you don't like any of those couples don't worry too much about it, the focus is Harry & Draco =)**_

_**DISCLAIMER: JK owns it all unfortunately!**_

* * *

><p><em><em>After their slightly drunken talk in the kitchens on Monday evening it got a lot easier for Harry and Draco to work together, they had actually been talking at mealtimes like friends and if they saw each other in the corridor they would stop and have a small conversation. It was something that Minerva was happy about, the awkwardness at mealtimes had made everyone uncomfortable, and Severus was no longer suspicious and had stopped sending Draco death glares.

The week passed a lot slower than Harry wanted it too, he really missed Ginny and Lily, but he knew he couldn't just drop by Ginny's work, he'd done it once and realised his mistake. She hated it when her Husband came in, she was the Expert Auror in charge of her group of trainee's who happened to be 3 men and she had to be tough for that, some people said she'd only made it so quick because she was married to the famous Harry Potter, but his Gin proved anyone who said that wrong.

Harry knew Lily was okay, she got tutored during the day with Hermione and Ron's daughter Rose, they were pretty much the same age. Rose had just turned 9 in September and Lily would turn 9 at the start of December. They would go to Hogwarts together because the cut off date was the end of January. Harry was glad for that, the girls were best friends. Either way Lily went to this tutoring group which was like primary school for magical children and Ginny picked her up every night, if she had to work Lily would go to the burrow which she loved because there were always other kids at the burrow to play with.

Molly had gotten her wish of lots of grandbabies, she had 15. The eldest of her grandchildren were Bill and Fleurs children as they had been married the longest. Victoire was 12 years old then there was Dominique who was 10 and Louis who was only 7.

Percy had been the second to marry and had married Audrey Stevenson whom he had met at the ministry, they had two children, Molly was 8 and her younger sister Lucy was 7.

Fred had married Angelina and George had married her best friend Katie, 4 of the 7 who had made up Gryffindors star Quidditch team. Both twins had two children, two sets of twins of the same age. Fred and Angelina's twins were two identical girls, Addison and Avery. George and Katie on the other hand had identical twin boys, Alexander and Andrew. Both sets of twins were 5.

There was then Ron and Hermione's 4 kids. Rose was 9 and the eldest, her younger twin brothers Nicholas and Samson were 7 and the youngest of the 4, Guinevere was just 4, last but not least was Harry's own daughter Lily.

Harry knew that Lily was fine, she was a happy child even with the fact that both he and Ginny worked so much, it didn't have to be done, they had enough money to stop working but they'd get so bored. When Lily was younger Harry and Ginny had both taken a year and a half off of work to watch her take her first steps and say her 1st words but in the end they'd had to go back, sitting around the house all day just hadn't been for them.

Eventually Friday night rolled around and Harry waited eagerly in front of his fireplace for Lily, he knew Ginny would send her via floo powder. Harry jumped up when the fire roared and turned green, a face appeared in the fireplace, but it wasn't Ginny's.

"Hi Molly." Harry said with a smile.

The face smiled back, "Hello Dear, Ginny's been working so much this week, we've had Lily all week almost." Molly said, but Harry knew this didn't bother her.

"I hope she's behaved." Harry said to the woman he considered a Mother, Molly smiled, "Oh of course she has, I've had Alexander, Andrew, Addison and Avery staying this week too, compared to two sets of twins Lily has been an angel."

"I'm glad." Harry said with a chuckle and Molly smiled "Here's her weekend bag Harry, Ginny said she'll meet you at the twins party on Sunday."

A bag popped out of the fire and Harry thanked Molly and told her to send Lily through, she did just that and Lily walked out of the fire a few seconds later. It turned back to it's normal red and orange colour and Lily smiled, "I missed you Dad!" She said as she hugged him, Harry smiled, "I missed you too." He said honestly.

Harry pulled away from the hug, "But don't worry, I've got a fun filled weekend planned for you." Lily grinned at this and Harry smiled, "Starting with junk food and as much games of wizard chess as you can play before falling asleep!"

Lily laughed, "Thanks Dad." She said happily as she sat down across from him, "I'm going to kick your butt by the way." She added.

Harry knew this, he had always been awful at wizard chess, and normal chess for that matter, he kidded along that he thought he would win anyway, he always had done and it made Lily laugh when he lost for the 3rd, 4th and occasionally 5th time, "Never child, my brain outsmarts yours any day." He said dramatically.

Lily laughed, "Challenge accepted." She said simply, and she did well and truly kick his butt at chess that night, 7 times.

* * *

><p>Morning rolled around and Lily was up before Harry, as usual. When he got dressed and went through to his living room he found her immersed in a book on the sofa, for an 8 (almost 9) year old girl she was an avid reader.<p>

"What ya reading?" Harry asked as he walked into the room, Lily put her bookmark in the page and closed the book, she jumped up with a smile and said, "Most potente potions."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her as he started to walk towards the great hall, Lily followed, her book in her hand, "I read that in my 2nd year when I was 12 and I didn't understand it." He said as he shook his head in amusement at his daughter who had caught up and was walking beside him now.

"I think the bookworm gene must have skipped a generation from your Grandma." Harry joked, but Lily just smiled and said, "Well I _am _named after her."

"Very true." Harry said, he grinned at Lily, "Hey, are you too big for shoulder rides yet?" He asked, Lily was very small for her age and skinny like he had been, she was petite, like Ginny, she had her Mother and her Grandmother's red hair but she had the trademark Evans/Potters emerald eyes.

"I'm never too old." Lily said and she chuckled as Harry lifted her up and sat her on his shoulders, the roofs and doors at Hogwarts were so high that they could only get away with it here. Harry was a lot stronger than he looked, Quidditch had done him well and he was able to walk to the hall like this with Lily no bother, Lily had a vice like grip on her book all the way through her ride and when they got to the great hall there was a bout of chuckles and 'aww's!'

The Professors had watched Lily grow up, Harry had been working as the DADA Professor here since Lily was 2 years old and she came by every weekend without fail, unless she was sick, and in the whole 6, almost 7 years he'd been working at Hogwarts he could only think of 4 times that had happened. The students adored Lily, and she was the same with them, she always had been, she was such a sociable child, she'd talk to anyone. Harry let Lily down when they reached the table and Harry sat down in his usual seat between Severus and Minerva, Lily would usually sit on a small seat between he and Minerva but before Harry had a chance to conjure it up she jumped on to Severus's knee, "I'm eating with Uncle Severus today." She said defiantly to her Father.

"You do that." Harry said with a chuckle, Severus raised an eyebrow at Harry and conjured up a seat for Lily next to him, she plopped herself down onto the seat and grabbed a piece of toast, "I beat Dad at 7 games of wizard chess last night." Lily said to Severus.

Severus smirked at Harry, "I taught you well." He said to the girl.

"_You _taught her!" Harry said indignantly, "I knew it was you."

Lily piped up, "Severus said it would annoy you if I beat you so he teaches me when he baby-sits me."

"I knew it." Harry muttered again as he ate some of the eggs on his plate, "Ohh, Severus, first Quidditch game of the season today, do you think Gryffindor are going to win for the…oh what was it…oh yeah 5th year running?" He smirked at the head teacher, he and Minerva shared the head teacher job, it was easier for them that way.

Severus glared at him, "Slytherin have a new Captain, we're going to win this year."

"Gryffindor has the best Quidditch team." Lily said, and Severus couldn't glare at her because she was a child, Lily continued, "My Dad played for Gryffindor and my Grandpa, they were both seekers, and my Great Grandpa was a chaser."

"Your Uncle Severus was the keeper for Slytherin when he was at school." Harry told Lily whose eyes widened, "Really?" She asked and Severus nodded, smiling a little at the girl, he'd known her since she was 2 like the other Professors and she'd gotten him wrapped around her little finger, "Did you ever win?"

"Not exactly." Severus said, and Harry grinned, "Grandpa and Uncle Severus went to school together but Grandpa used to always win."

Severus rolled his eyes as Lily stuck her tongue out at Severus and announced to the table, "When I'm older I'm going to be the seeker for the chudley cannons."

"If you're going to play Quidditch at least pick a good team." Severus said but Lily only glared at him, "Uncle Ron says they are the best in the league!"

Harry laughed and said to Severus, "I really shouldn't let her spend so much time with Ron."

Draco walked into the hall as Severus agreed and promised to take Lily to a good Quidditch game in the Easter holidays. Draco took his seat which was 4 along from Harry, the seating order was Harry, Severus, Luna then Draco and after that Neville. All the other teachers were seated on the other side of Minerva.

Lily being the child she was didn't' really understand manners, "Who are you?" She asked Draco.

"Lily, manners!" Harry scolded but Draco just smiled, "I'm Draco Malfoy, who are you?"

"I'm Lily Luna Potter." Lily answered proudly, "I've never seen you before."

"That's because I'm new here." Draco said, and Lily nodded, "Okay." She said, turning to her Father, "I'm finished, can we go to the Quidditch pitch now?" She asked eagerly as students started to file out of the hall and walk down to the pitch.

Harry knew he wouldn't win so he just chuckled and said, "Sure, we'll head down now."

Severus and Draco stood up at the same time and the 4 of them started to walk to the pitch together arguing about which side would win.

As Lily raced Draco to the stairs of the Professors stand Harry said to Severus, "Hermione told me about you two by the way."

Severus didn't seem annoyed or surprised, "I'm surprised it took her so long." He said in the drawl that was his voice.

"Is it just sex or is it feelings?" Harry asked curiously, something flashed across Severus's face, "It is feelings I believe, it was originally a relationship of convenience but I doubt such a thing would continue for 4 years."

"She's finally leaving Ron you know." Harry said, noticing how Severus's eyes lit up a little at this news, "She showed me the divorce papers when I saw her on Monday and when I saw her on Thursday she'd filled them all in, she just needed his signature. She's waiting until after the twins birthday party tomorrow."

"That's understandable." Severus said reasonably as they caught up with Lily and Draco and their conversation came to a stop.

"Dad, I beat Draco!" Lily boasted, Harry smiled, "Well done Lils." The group made their way up the stairs and seated themselves in the high and cold stands, they were all glad they'd bundled up as much as they had, the first Quidditch match of the season was always freezing, Harry had preferred playing in it to watching it, you didn't feel the cold as much.

After 40 minutes the Slytherin seeker caught the snitch but he was clearly bad at math because it ended the game and Gryffindor won by 10 points. Severus cursed and Lily scolded him, he and Draco stayed in the huff for the rest of the day whereas the win put Harry and Lily in a rather cheerful mood. They relaxed for the rest of the day and Harry found himself sad that she was going to be leaving soon.

* * *

><p>Lily was in bed asleep when the portrait who guarded Harry's rooms told him a Draco Malfoy was there to see him. Harry told the portrait to let him in and Draco walked in looking lost.<p>

"I can't find Astoria, I have no idea where she is." Draco said as he sank down into a chair in Harry's living room.

"Did you try her work?" Harry asked, handing Draco a glass of firewhiskey, he looked like he needed it.

"Her assistants won't tell me anything." Draco admitted, and he drank half of the firewhiskey in one gulp, his eyes were red and bloodshot, he'd obviously been crying.

"There isn't anything you can do Draco, you're just going to have to let her cool off and come to you." Harry tried to explain, he knew Draco was going through hell right now.

"She has no right to keep my children from me Harry." Draco snapped and Harry nodded, "I know, no one should keep a Father from his children." He admitted as he sat down across from Draco, "But there isn't anything you can do if there isn't a way to see her."

"I know." Draco said, he sighed deeply and finished the firewhiskey, Harry poured him another and said thoughtfully, "I wonder if Ginny's seen Astoria, they must have been working together this week on the Lestrange project, Ginny's team are gutting the place but by protocol they have to work in conjunction with the 'Detection and Confiscation of Dangerous Magical Objects Committee.' and Astoria is the department head, isn't she?"

Draco nodded, his eyes far away as if he was deep in thought, "Even when we lived in Scotland she worked here, she just floo-ed everyday. If Ginny's seen her…" He trailed off but Harry understood.

"If Ginny has seen her I'll ask her to talk to her for you." Harry said and Draco looked at him with the smallest glint of hope in his eyes, "Thank you." He said genuinely and Harry gave him a small smile, "That's what friends are for."

* * *

><p>"Dad! I need a girl!" Lily called from her bedroom and Harry rolled his eyes, "I'll do fine Lily, what's up?" He asked.<p>

"I need fashion advice." Lily said through the door and Harry bit his lip, "Maybe you do need a girl." He admitted, he glanced at the clock, they were supposed to be leaving to go to Nicholas and Samson's birthday party in 20 minutes and Lily wasn't even dressed yet.

Harry went to the fire and threw some floo powder in, he floo called Luna and put his head into the fireplace, "Luna!" He called, and Luna plodded through into the living room of her quarters dressed in a full length sleep suit with a hood she had pulled up, Harry squinted at the outfit and realised it was a hippogriff, he chuckled in amusement at his friend's odd sleep suit and wondered if he should be asking her for fashion advice for his daughter…

"Hey Luna, sorry to bother you so early, Lily has a party today and she needs a woman to help her decide what to wear, could you give her a hand?" Harry asked, Luna smiled and seemed eager to help, "Of course Harry." She said and with a flick of her wand she was clothed in normal clothes which made Harry feel better, "I'll come over right now."

"Thanks Luna." Harry said as he pulled his head out of the fireplace and he genuinely meant it, Lily could be a handful sometimes.

Luna came through the fireplace right away and went into Lily's bedroom, when Lily emerged 10 minutes later she looked very pretty in a black dress with light blue polka dots, Luna had put a matching ribbon in her hair too.

"You look lovely Lils, thanks so much for doing that Luna." Harry said, as he wrapped an arm around her daughter to rush her out of the door, they were going to be late.

Luna said it wasn't a problem and left through the fireplace, by the time Harry and Lily had gotten to the apparation point and apparated to the burrow they were just in time. Molly greeted them and led Lily over to where all the other kids were sitting in a circle playing games. Lily immediately seated herself next to Rose, which wasn't a surprise. Molly smiled at Harry, "I've left Ron, Arthur and the big twins in charge of the kids." Harry walked with her into the kitchen where all the adults were gathered drinking wine and butterbeer, Harry chuckled, "Now this is my idea of a party." He said.

Molly laughed, "We're using the excuse that we're making the food through here." She said as she walked over to Bill to tell him off for eating the food when it hadn't even been put out yet.

Harry spotted Ginny and walked over to her after grabbing a butterbeer, "Hey Honey." He said, kissing her when she turned around. Harry really he kissed her like he meant it, and when he broke away she smiled cheekily at him, "Wow, you've really missed me huh?"

Harry grinned, "I have." He said, "I'm going to stay with you tonight, I don't care if I'm late for classes tomorrow."

Ginny chuckled, "I have no objections." She said as she kissed him again, "Get a room you two!" Charlie called, he'd come over from Romania for the twins birthday, he was the only Weasley not to have children.

Ginny just stuck her tongue out at her big brother and turned back to her Husband, "How was Lils?"

"She was great, we played chess on Friday and we went to the first Quidditch game of the season yesterday, the Slytherin seeker caught the snitch but couldn't count cause Gryffindor won by 10 points."

Ginny laughed, "Easy win." She said, drinking from her wine glass.

"How was the Lestrange raids?" Harry asked as he leant against the counter she was leaning on, looking at her sideways.

Ginny sighed, "Bad." She admitted, "There were so many traps and enchantments but we broke through eventually and we found some pretty gross stuff, along with more than a few dead bodies and three hidden dungeons." She said, "DMOC had a field day in there, it took them about 4 days just to do the first floor."

Harry shook his head, "They were dark people the Lestrange's." He said, remembering how Bellatrix had killed his Godfather but had her comeuppance when Mrs. Weasley had killed her in the battle of Hogwarts. Harry asked casually, "Oh, I meant to ask, have you been working with Astoria this week on the Lestrange project?"

Ginny nodded, "Yeah, all week. Why?" She asked, she wasn't suspicious, just curious.

Harry looked at her sheepishly, "I need you to do me a favour." He admitted, Ginny smiled a little, "I know, you want me to talk to her because she's run off and won't let Draco see his kids."

Harry nodded, "I feel sorry for him, I mean he really didn't do anything wrong, she's punishing him for something that happened before they were even together and I know I'd feel horrible if you ever took Lily away from me."

Ginny understood, "I know." She said, "I'm surprised you haven't asked me sooner actually."

Harry was about to say he hadn't wanted to interrupt her busy week but he didn't get the chance because Molly announced it was time to take the cake through and for the twins to open presents.

As they all filed out of the room Ginny slipped her hand into Harry's and said, "Don't worry, I'll talk to her."

Not for the first time a pang of guilt hit Harry square in the chest, Ginny was too good for him.

**TBC.**


	5. Conversations & Arguments

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 5 - Conversations & Arguments_

_**A/N - Hello again! **_

_**I'm halfway there already, I'm really enjoying writing this. I think I might write more Harry/Draco in the future =)**_

_**DISCLAIMER: JK owns everything D:**_

* * *

><p>When Ginny Potter made a promise she kept it so when she walked into work on Monday morning after dropping Lily off at her tutors she went off in search of Astoria Malfoy. Ginny didn't have to look for very long, she stepped off the elevator on her floor and found Astoria talking to one of the Aurors on her team.<p>

Ginny could tell it was Astoria immediately even from the side, Astoria was very pretty with long straight brown hair, long eyelashes and big blue eyes, Ginny didn't know if Draco knew how many times she'd gotten her way by flirting with the people in charge. Right now Mrs. Malfoy was batting her eyes at one of Ginny's aurors and it made Ginny roll her eyes, the poor guy was only 18 and just out of school.

"Astoria! Can we talk?" Ginny called from where she stood by her office door, her assistant handed her some papers and she smiled at her briefly before looking back to Astoria, the woman walked over to Ginny and smiled, "Sure, what do you want to talk about, our traitorous Husbands?" She asked.

Ginny smiled, "Yes actually, that is what I'd like to talk about." She said as she opened her office door and ushered Astoria inside. Once both she and Ginny were seated in the large comfy armchairs in Ginny's high 7th level office with the view of the Thames from the window Astoria impatiently looked at Ginny, "Well?"

Ginny smiled, although it was sort of fake, "Your Husband did something 10 years ago that he regrets, he did that something before he'd even met you and now you're punishing him for it."

Astoria narrowed her eyes at Ginny, "You don't know anything about my Husband and I."

"You're right, I don't." Ginny admitted calmly, "But I do know my Husband well and I know he wouldn't lie to me. I know I have nothing to be angry at him for. He kept this from me until he saw Draco that day Astoria, at least you knew all along."

Astoria was looking angrier by the second so Ginny continued quickly, "He loves his children and he's missing them, he's broken."

Astoria took a deep breath to calm herself, she forced a smile and said rationally to the redhead, "I know you forgave Harry, that was your choice and this is mine, I _can't _forgive him."

Ginny sighed, she was trying not to get angry at Astoria because she knew the woman was hurting but she was also not being reasonable at all, "Why can't you forgive him Astoria? It's not like he cheated on you, nothing happened, they just saw each other on the street and it brought back some long buried memories."

Ginny had always been the rational one, sometimes she wished that everyone could be like her, it would be so much easier, Astoria was very hot-headed, a lot like her husband, she imagined that marriage was full of fights, a lot like Ron and Hermione's.

Astoria finally lost her temper, she'd been trying so hard to control it since she stepped foot in Ginny's office, Ginny was thankful that she had silencing charms on the room as Astoria exclaimed in a burst of anger, "It brought back feelings Ginny, not memories!" Her eyes had glazed over but she seemed like the kind of person who would refuse to let others, especially colleagues see her weakness.

"I can't be with him if he doesn't love me." Astoria said, her voice soft now, so quiet Ginny almost didn't hear it, but she did, and she felt sorry for the woman.

Ginny softened her own voice as she said to the brunette, "But he does love you Astoria. He could have lied about seeing Harry but he told you the truth because he didn't want your relationship to be based on lies."

Astoria stood from the chair, she was silent for a moment, "He left me." She said, the bitterness and anger back in her voice and Ginny knew then there wasn't any hope of getting her to open up or even just to act on her advice, "No." Ginny said, standing up too and sitting back down behind her desk, "He wanted to stay with you and the kids, but you took them away, you left him, not the other way around."

Astoria stared at Ginny for a moment as if she couldn't believe that she was talking to her that way, she opened her mouth to say something but then thought better of it and stormed out of the office, slamming the door without a word.

Ginny sighed, well, at least she could tell Harry that she had tried.

* * *

><p>Astoria Malfoy was in a foul mood all day after her little 'chat' with Ginny Potter that morning, but when she got home and saw her kids she brightened up a little. She was living in a hotel until she could figure out what to do and her parents had been watching the kids when she was working, so far she'd done a good job of avoiding Draco who wouldn't stop looking for her.<p>

When Astoria got in she was glad her Mum had fed the kids because she was so fed up and annoyed she just wanted to sit down and relax. Neve was drawing at the table in the middle of the room when Kathy crawled up onto the couch next to her Mother and whispered sadly, "I miss Daddy."

Those words broke Astoria's heart and with a jolt she realised that Ginny had been right, she was being stupid, Draco hadn't done anything, she'd over-reacted to he and Harry bumping into each other on the street, she sighed, she knew Draco was working with Harry at Hogwarts now so they'd probably worked things out. She stood up and lifted Kathy, "Neve, you and Kathy are going to go and stay with Mommy's friend for a while tonight." She said, smiling at her eldest daughter, "She has a little girl whose just a little older than you."

Neve's eyes lit up at this and she happily agreed to come along. Astoria gripped Neve's hand tight and kept a close hold on Kathy as she apparated to the doorstep of Grimmauld place. Astoria knocked on the door and Ginny answered dressed in sweat pants and an old baggy t-shirt, she smiled when she saw Astoria, "Sure, I'll watch them while you go and have your reunion with your husband."

Astoria smiled sheepishly at her, "You were right, sorry for storming out on you."

Ginny only chuckled, "Don't worry about it, you were confused." She said kindly, "I'll keep them overnight if that will be easier, tomorrow is my day off anyway."

"Would you?" Astoria asked, "Thanks so much Ginny, I swear I'll repay you, I really appreciate it." She said and in a rare show of emotion she hugged Ginny.

Ginny only smiled, "Yeah, yeah, on you go!"

Astoria grinned and spun on the spot, just like that she was gone again. Ginny brought the girls into the house and introduced them to Lily, she smiled at the three girls and asked, "Who likes making chocolate cake?"

"ME!" All three shouted and chuckling Ginny led the trio down to the large kitchen.

* * *

><p>Astoria felt uncharastically nervous as she walked along the halls of Hogwarts, she hadn't been here for years, not since she graduated and the halls were very quiet since it was 8.30pm and curfew was at 8.15pm on week nights. She knew where she was going because Severus had told her when she'd gone to the dungeons to locate Draco.<p>

Astoria got to the portrait and it said, "Password?"

"I don't have it." Astoria told the man in the painting, "But can you tell Draco that Astoria Malfoy, his wife, is here?"

The man nodded and disappeared, a few seconds later he reappeared and the portrait swung open. Astoria's heart was beating fast in her chest as she opened the door and walked into Draco's quarters. She walked into the living room and found him sitting on the couch with a glass in his hand and an empty bottle of firewhiskey on the table, his eyes were red and bloodshot from either the alcohol or the tears, perhaps both, and his hair was a mess, he looked awful.

Astoria walked over to him, placing a hand on his cheek, "You look like crap." She said.

Draco just snorted as if to say 'I know, and?' Astoria sighed, "I'm so sorry Draco. I was punishing you for something that happened before we'd even met, it was stupid and unfair, I just hope that you can forgive me."

Draco caught her eye, and he spoke, "You mean that Astoria?" He asked.

Astoria nodded and put her hand on her heart, "I mean it Draco, I should never have kept the girls from you." She bit her lip and added, "I love you Draco, and I know nothing happened, nothing's happened for 10 years, I'm so sorry."

Draco's response to this may have been different from usual due to the bottle of firewhiskey he'd consumed but he wasted no time on crashing his lips against hers in a needy, but passionate kiss.

Astoria had witnessed Draco like this only twice before, they'd have an argument, he'd get drunk and they'd have hot, needy sex, she gasped in surprise when he lifted her up, not stopping kissing her, she sometimes forgot how strong he was, he carried her into the bedroom and dropped her onto the large four poster bed, he wasted no time in pressing his lips against hers again, this time letting his hands roam over her body, Astoria smiled as she broke the kiss, her hands on Draco's face, "I love you." She whispered.

Draco looked her in the eye for a long moment, "I love you too." He finally whispered back, capturing her lips for a third time.

**TBC.**


	6. A Monster Inside

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 6 - A Monster Inside_

_**A/N - I'm updating pretty fast :o I hope this keeps up, I hate it when I get writers block!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! It's all JK!**_

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><p><em><em>Harry Potter was sitting by the fireplace on his favourite armchair marking 3rd year essays about the lifespan of a hinkypunk when the fire next to him turned green and a tall gangly redheaded figure stepped out of it.

The figure was none other than Ronald Weasley of course, his best friend and brother-in-law. Ron was grinning and holding a bottle of firewhiskey in his hands, when he saw Harry sitting there his grin widened, he poured out two glasses and handed one to Harry, "We're celebrating mate!" He exclaimed, and Harry glanced at the clock, "It's only 6pm Ron, and it's a Monday night." He said in amusement.

"I know, but it's a special occasion." Ron said as he drank from his glass of firewhiskey. Harry drank from his too, despite the time he could do with a drink after the day he'd had, sometimes he hated Fred and Georges tricks, especially when 4th years used them in his class.

"Okay, what are we celebrating?" Harry asked as he cocked his head at the man sitting across from him.

"Hermione finally handed over the divorce papers." Ron said, looking delighted at this news, "I mean we've both known for a year that it's over, she knows about Lav and I've known she's got someone on the side too."

Harry was a little bewildered, but also amused at this, it just proved he'd been right about the marriage of his two best friends when he'd told them it wouldn't work a week after they'd started dating, "So you brought a bottle of firewhiskey over to celebrate the fact your marriage has just ended?"

"Yup!" Ron said, drinking the rest of his glass in one and pouring himself another, Harry only chuckled in amusement, "What are you going to do about the kids?" He asked.

Ron shrugged, "Hermione was freaking out about that, I don't see the problem. She has them all week and I'll see them at weekends. I signed the custody papers." He told Harry casually.

Harry frowned, "Doesn't it bother you that you'll only see them at weekends?" He asked his friend.

Ron shook his head, "I hardly see them during the week anyway with work being so busy, besides it will just be like you, I mean you're here all week, you only see Gin and Lily at weekends and your relationship with your daughter is fine." He said logically.

"Ginny and I aren't divorced though Ron." Harry pointed out, but Ron just shrugged, "Whatever." He just said.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the redhead, "So what's going to happen now with you and Lavender?" He asked.

Ron shrugged again, he said casually, "Well I'm just out of a marriage so nothing serious." He said, "Did you ever find out who Hermione's guy was by the way?" He asked thoughtfully.

"No, I've not got a clue." Harry lied, he'd gotten much better at lying thankfully, if Ron knew about Hermione and Severus he'd have a fit.

Harry and Ron finished off the bottle of firewhiskey in 10 minutes as they talked about what Ron was going to do now that he was 'free' as he had put it. When the bottle was finished Ron had said he was going out on the town as a single man and left through the fireplace.

Harry had chuckled and disposed of the empty bottle, he sat back down in his comfy seat, he got through 4 more papers until the fire roared and another figure stepped through just after 7.30pm. Harry tried not to smirk as Hermione stepped out holding a bottle of wine in each hand, "Ron signed the divorce papers!" She said happily as she flopped down happily into the armchair Ron had just occupied.

"You just missed Ron." Harry said amusement.

Hermione actually laughed and poured out the wine, she handed Harry one of the glasses, "Was he celebrating too?" She asked.

"Yep." Harry said, accepting the glass of wine with a smile of thanks, "Shouldn't you be celebrating with Severus?" He asked.

Hermione shook her head, "Nope, I'll celebrate with him later." She said suggestively and Harry looked a little disgusted by this, "No Severus Snape sex talk in my quarters!" He ordered.

Hermione only chuckled, "So Ron signed the custody papers, he was totally fine with having the kids at weekends which I thought was odd, but I'm just glad they won't get separated." She said happily.

Harry put the essays he was supposed to be marking to one side and said, "Can I just say the fact that you and Ron both came over here to celebrate the end of your marriage rather than mourn it only proves how messed up it was all along."

"Yes, it does." Hermione agreed, but she didn't seem all that bothered about this, she'd known for a while it had been messed up, not the fairytale it had been to begin with.

"So, enough about me." Hermione said, "How are you and Ginny?"

"We're fine." Harry said honestly, "I didn't tell her about the kiss, I figured it was best that way. I chose her." He drank deeply from the glass of wine and Hermione noticed, she could tell it hadn't been an easy choice.

"And you and Draco are friends now, so I hear." Hermione said curiously, she wanted to find out from Harry more about what Ginny had said to her.

Harry nodded, "We get along, we don't jump each other in corridors, all is well." He smiled a little darkly as he drank some more of the wine that went to his head, "You talked to Gin I guess."

Hermione nodded too, "I saw her today, we met on lunch break at work. She told me she'd spoken to Astoria and wasn't sure if it had gone down well or not, Astoria stormed out of her office."

"I asked Ginny to talk to her." Harry told his friend, he felt a little guilty now, "Draco was really torn up about the fact she was keeping his kids away from him."

Hermione looked sympathetic at that, "Yeah, that is a little harsh. Fair enough she's mad but she shouldn't do that to their kids."

"I thought the same." Harry said thoughtfully, pouring more wine into his glass, "You gotta stop giving me this wine, Mione, it's stronger than any firewhiskey I've ever had."

"It's amazing though, isn't it?" Hermione said, smiling as Harry chuckled his agreement, he was glad he had her, he honestly didn't know how he'd get through a lot of situations without her and her super strong wine.

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><p>When Ginny Potter woke up she forgot momentarily that she had more than one child in her house. She dressed quickly and went down the stairs with the goal of getting herself some breakfast, she assumed Lily was still in bed as the house was rather quiet and it was only 7.30am.<p>

It wasn't until Ginny stepped foot in the kitchen that she remembered she had company, Lily, Neve and Kathy were all sitting around the table in the large kitchen eating sandwiches and drinking pumpkin juice. Kreacher had obviously fixed them all with some breakfast.

"Morning girls." Ginny said to the group as she walked in and helped herself to some toast and a cup of coffee.

"Morning Mum." Lily said with a smile, "Morning Mrs. Potter." The Malfoy girls said politely, "Call me Ginny girls." She said kindly to them as she sat down at the end of the table.

Ginny wasn't sure how long it would be before Astoria came by to pick the girls up, but she'd floo-ed a spare set of clothes each for them after she'd dropped them off. Ginny could tell that although they were young they were smart because they had already dressed themselves in the clothes she'd laid out the night before.

Ginny had glanced out of the window on her way down into the basement kitchen and had saw the sun shining despite the cool September air, "Do you girls like Quidditch?" Ginny asked Neve and Kathy.

The two girls nodded enthusiastically and Neve said, "We have our own Quidditch pitch at our house."

"So do we." Ginny said with a smile, "Lily has a few spare junior broomsticks if you want to have a few games after breakfast." At this news the three of them wolfed their breakfast down faster than Ginny had thought possible and hurried out to the back garden.

Ginny finished her own breakfast 5 minutes after them and pulled on her winter coat, her hat, scarf and gloves and went outside to supervise them.

Their Quidditch pitch was really more of a mini pitch, it didn't have stands because it didn't need them. It just had the 6 hoops, lower down for Lily's sake because the junior brooms didn't fly as high for safety reasons. They had a chest with all the real Quidditch balls but the girls had decided not to use it, instead they were just playing around, throwing apples and oranges to each other as they darted around the back garden.

Thanks to the high walls and the fact that number 12 Grimmauld Place was invisible to muggles Ginny and Harry had been quite lucky, at the burrow they'd always had to be careful so no one would see them, Lily didn't have to worry about that.

Ginny smiled as she watched the three girls play together, she wished Harry could be here to see Lily getting on so well with them, usually she didn't let anyone in as much unless it was Rose or another Weasley child, they were all really good friends, it was a real close knit family, the Weasley's and Ginny liked that.

It didn't bother her often that Harry was at Hogwarts so much, it upset her sometimes that when she missed him she couldn't just floo there to see him because he was busy marking papers, even when she spent weekends there with Lily he sometimes had marking to do. This year with Draco being there she was surprised by the fact that she wasn't bothered more, she supposed she just trusted Harry too much to let it bother her.

Ginny had to admit that she did find it a little odd that her daughter and Draco's children were playing so well together and she wondered how Harry and Draco would react if they knew, her thoughts got a little away from her as she watched the three young girls, they were so different. Lily with her vivid red hair and green eyes, the image of Lily Evans. Neve with her blonde hair and blue eyes, the image of her Father. Then there was Kathy and you wouldn't even think they were sisters, she and Neve, she had dark brown hair like her Mother and grey eyes like her Father, both she and Neve were very pretty children, pretty like their well-groomed, pureblood parents.

All of that was a thing of the past now, everyone got on with everyone, everyone married everyone, there was the occasional person who was stuck on the traditional views, or in other words, Voldemort's views, but most people had moved on with the times, even the Malfoy's.

Ginny smiled as she thought to herself that she and Astoria could be good friends, their children got on, and they were both the only people that could talk to each other about the entire husband thing, it would be good to have a friend like Astoria. Ginny's thoughts drifted away again as the cool air stung at her face, but she was sure about one thing, things were going to change a lot from this day forward.

* * *

><p>When Harry woke up on Tuesday morning he felt like crap and he had 3rd year Slytherin's and Gryffindor's 1st thing which made him feel even worse. He got out of bed and drank the last of the hangover potion Severus had made him at Christmas time, he would need to ask the man for more of that, it had really come in handy.<p>

He was going to be late by the time he got to the great hall and managed to grab a spot of breakfast but Harry couldn't make himself walk any faster as he pulled himself through the corridor his room was in.

As he did every morning Harry passed Draco's quarters but this morning there was something different about it. As Harry turned the corner he saw Astoria leaving Draco's quarters with a grin on her face.

Harry frowned as he watched the scene unfold, Draco walked out and the portrait swung shut after him, they talked for a moment and Astoria laughed then Draco (who was a lot taller than his wife) lowered his lips to hers and kissed her in what Harry could see, even from a distance, was a passionate kiss that held a lot of meaning. When Astoria pulled away from the kiss she hurried along down the corridor and Draco walked after her a slower pace with a matching smile on his lips.

Harry stood there frozen to the spot, a tugging feeling in his gut, anger, he was jealous and he didn't know why, he had wanted this, he had helped this by getting Ginny to talk to Astoria. He and Draco had become friends, there was nothing more to it. He had no reason to be jealous of seeing Draco kiss his wife, but Harry couldn't argue with the fact that despite this he was jealous all the same.

In a worse mood than ever Harry stormed off to his 1st class, later and hungrier than he had been before. He had a feeling it wasn't going to be a good day for the Slytherin pupils he taught…

**TBC.**


	7. Strange Friendships

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 7 - Strange Friendships_

_**A/N - SUMMER HOLIDAYS YAAAY!**_

_**Okay, now that's out of the way… onto the story!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p><em><em>The first month at Hogwarts had flown by and before Harry knew it he realised it was the first weekend of October and with that of course came the first Hogsmeade weekend.

Harry went to Hogsmeade late on Friday night to meet Lily and Ginny but to his surprise he found Draco waiting by the apparation point. Ever since his feelings of jealousy had arisen two weeks earlier he had tried to act normal around Draco but he sensed that Draco knew something was wrong.

Harry smiled a little awkwardly at Draco, "Waiting for someone?" He asked.

Draco nodded, returning the smile, "Astoria and the girls, are you here for Ginny and Lily?"

Harry nodded, not looking Draco in the eye, the blonde man said, "They'll arrive together."

Harry frowned, "Why?" He asked, he hadn't been aware of this.

Draco replied, "They went out for dinner together before coming to Hogwarts." He explained, he sounded a little surprised that Harry didn't know but Ginny hadn't mentioned anything to him,

"They're friends?" Harry asked, that was a friendship he hadn't anticipated.

"Yeah, I thought it was a little weird at first too, but what can we do about it?" Draco asked, Harry knew it was a rhetorical question so he just nodded, deep in thought, why had his wife neglected to tell him of this friendship?

His thoughts were interrupted by the apparation point whirring, the two men took a step back and in the blink of an eye both of their wives and children were standing before them.

Harry controlled the feeling that tightened in his stomach when Astoria greeted Draco with a kiss and instead kissed his own wife lightly on the lips and lifted his daughter up onto his shoulders.

"I didn't know you two were friends." Harry said lightly to Ginny and Astoria. His wife smiled at him, "Oh we're new friends." She explained, "But the girls get on so well that it would be a shame to not be friends."

Draco and Harry shared a look of bemusement and Astoria said, "And we do have a lot in common." She and Ginny shared an amused glance and chuckled.

It was an obvious dig at Harry and Draco but both men rose above it, they weren't' going to get into an argument like the one that was coming in front of their children.

The two families walked up to the castle, Neve and Kathy running ahead, Lily on Harry's shoulders and the two women talking and laughing behind the two men. Harry and Draco felt more awkward than ever during this short walk that felt 10 times longer than usual.

Eventually they reached the castle but Draco's rooms were just around the corner from Harry's so the awkward walk went on for even longer, to distract himself Harry talked to Lily, "How was your week Lils?"

Lily smiled from her spot on her Father's shoulders, "It was great Dad. I played with Neve and Kathy loads."

So much for avoiding talk of Draco, Harry thought miserably, "Oh that's good Lily." He simply said, somehow Harry and Draco had ended up walking behind their wife's, Harry put Lily down and let her run ahead to catch up with Draco's kids.

"This is more than a little weird." Harry said to Draco as the two women were immersed in conversation.

"I know." Draco muttered to Harry, his eyes widened, "You don't think their…you know…" He trailed off and Harry frowned, "Doing what we did." Draco hissed.

Harry realised with a jolt what he meant, "Oh!" He thought about it for a moment and glanced at them, "No…I mean…No, definitely not." He said on a finishing note.

Draco was still watching their backs suspiciously, "We should ask them." He said, and Harry agreed immediately, "Tonight."

Draco reached his rooms first and they all said goodbye, when Harry reached his rooms Lily went straight in to her room to get changed for bed since it was late and Harry seized this opportunity to talk to Ginny.

Awkwardly Harry said, "So Gin, Draco and I realised that your friendship with Astoria looks alike my friendship with Draco from 10 years ago." His attempt at casual failed miserably.

Ginny gaped at him for a moment before bursting out laughing, "You think we're sleeping with each other?" She asked through her laughter, "That's funny." She said and she walked to the door of their quarters, Harry frowned about to ask her where she was going when the portrait slid open revealing Astoria killing herself laughing.

"Draco thought we were sleeping together." Astoria said as she choked back laughter, Ginny only laughed more, "So did Harry." She said as they walked away down the corridor together. Harry stood and watched them go with no idea what was happening, "This is really weird." Draco said slowly from the other end of the hall.

Harry nodded his agreement, he believed Ginny that nothing was going on but the fact it was just friendship made it even weirder, and even more awkward, Harry and Draco were struggling as it was, the last thing that they needed was for their wives to be best friends…

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><p>The next day as the two families sat in the great hall for breakfast the awkwardness was turned up a notch.<p>

Severus narrowed his eyes suspiciously when Astoria and Ginny sat next to each other in the seats between him and Luna, he'd never seen them talking before. His eyes narrowed further when he saw Lily, Neve and Kathy all sitting at a small table just behind the head table eating and talking together. Harry who was sitting on his other side just shrugged at him.

Severus moved closer to the boy who lived and asked, "What the hell is going on?"

Harry shook his head, "I have no idea. My wife is best friends with my ex…" He trailed off and Severus filled in, "Lover?"

Harry sighed, "That will do, ex lovers wife, and our children are the best of friends. This is beyond weird for me." He admitted to the older man.

"I can see why." Severus said, and he glanced at the two women for a second time. Astoria noticed the glance this time and smiled at Severus, "What's wrong Severus? Is it odd to you that the wives of the fling you kept secret 10 years ago are friends?"

Draco and Harry both choked on their food at this, everyone along the head table heard it and some of the pupils sitting near the front of the hall too. "Astoria!" Draco hissed, but Astoria just smiled at her husband, "Sorry Draco, I forget that my voice carries." She said as she left the hall.

Ginny bit her lip, "Sorry Harry, I didn't ask her to do that." She said, kissing him on the cheek, "I'm taking Lily to Diagon Alley to get a new broom, her coach thinks she's ready for a teen broom now."

Harry nodded, and stood, "I'll come too." He said, and he, Ginny and Lily walked past Draco without a word as the other teachers watched them leave with realisation in their eyes. It hadn't made sense to them, all the awkwardness and anger between he and Draco that had quickly become friendship and had then become awkward again. It made sense to them all now, all but Severus of course who had known the full story along.

Ginny and Harry were different from Astoria and Draco, they carried on like nothing had happened in the great hall that morning, they carried on like she being friends with Astoria was normal, like 10 years ago hadn't happened, they just acted the way that they had before with the thoughts of Draco at the back of their minds. Astoria and Draco couldn't do that, ever since Harry had come back into their lives they fought constantly and the only reasons they were staying together were Neve and Kathy.

Draco knew he'd messed things up, and Harry knew too, the difference was that he had a wife who was happy to avoid the matter, and Draco didn't.

Eventually they both knew something would change that, something would send Ginny flying over the edge.

At the end of the day Harry and Draco were a time bomb, they knew from the very beginning, they knew 10 years ago that they were destined to explode and now it was only a matter of time before something triggered that bomb, and they both knew that it could anything, the smallest thing, the lightest touch, the simplest word. Harry couldn't speak for Draco but he knew that when that bomb went off he'd not regret pulling Draco out of the wreckage. He also knew it would be easy to diffuse this metaphorical bomb, if they cut all ties, or wires in this case, and got on with their lives separately there wouldn't be any bomb to explode, but they both seemed to know that in the back of their minds they liked it this way, the dance around each other, although the awkwardness wasn't fun, neither of them wanted it any other way.

**TBC.**

**A/N - Yes, the last paragraph I totally stole from the lyrics of "Time Bomb" by All Time Low! I was writing this as I listened to their new album and I just couldn't resist, it fits this fic so well!**


	8. Halloween Horror Stories

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 8 - Halloween Horror Stories_

_**A/N - There are only going to be 11 chapters so after this one there's only 3 to go! :D**_

_**So yeah, this is very graphic. I've never written ANYTHING this graphic, even like differing sex couples so this is weird for me, but I think it turned out alright!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: Guess what? I still don't own anything!**_

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><p><em><em>It was the 31st of October and Minerva had decided to hold a small Halloween party for the staff and their families. The great hall was decorated with the usual bats and jack o' lanterns as it was for the pupils but all of the house tables were pushed to the side and replaced by small circular tables, there was music playing from somewhere and a small dance floor.

Ginny and Astoria had wanted to sit together so Draco and Harry had no choice but to sit at the table with their wives. The girls had eaten too much candy and were dancing around on the dance floor with a couple of the adults who found them cute, but as long as they weren't causing any trouble their parents didn't mind.

Harry was watching Lily with a smile, not really paying any attention to the conversation going on at the table, Draco and Ginny were talking about the economy and how the ministry was going to have to be careful, Harry really wasn't interested in politics. All month things had been bad, all the teachers now knew about the 'fling' as everyone was calling it, between Draco and Harry, none of them had the nerve to say anything but the fact they knew and the rumours were spreading around the student population only increased the tension between the two men.

Even sitting next to Harry made Draco tense; his shoulders were tense at this very moment in time. Lily looked over and saw her Father watching her, she smiled and called, "Come dance with me Dad!"

Harry chuckled and stood and walked over to his daughter easily, he grabbed her and lifted her onto his feet and danced around with her, she laughed, she'd always loved it when Harry danced like this with her. "Daaaaaaad." Lily said, drawing out the word like she did when she wanted something.

Harry smiled at her, "Yes Lily?"

Lily gave him her biggest smile, "I want a sister." She said.

Harry laughed, "It's not that easy." He explained to his daughter and she rolled her eyes, "But Neve and Kathy have each other." She complained.

"I know, but some children just don't have brothers or sisters, it's the way it works honey." Harry said gently.

"Can Neve and Kathy be my pretend sisters?" Lily asked hopefully and Harry smiled, relieved her sadness didn't last long, he nodded, "Of course they can be." He said.

Draco had come over to dance with his daughters too, he was holding one of their hands in each of his hands, and they were both laughing. Neve caught sight of what Harry was doing and said, "Can I dance like that too Uncle Harry?"

Harry was surprised for a moment at the 'Uncle' but covered it up as quickly as possible, unfortunately Draco noticed his shock before he could hide it, Harry smiled at her, "Of course you can Neve." He said as Lily stepped off Harry's shoes and ran over to dance with Kathy and Draco. Neve stepped up onto Harry's shoes and he held her hands as he spun around with her, she giggled and said, "This is fun Uncle Harry."

Harry had to admit, Draco had cute kids, when Kathy saw Neve getting a turn she rushed over wanting one too and Harry of course obliged and let her jump onto his shoes so he could dance around with her, this time Harry moved closer over to Draco and muttered, "Uncle Harry?"

Draco shrugged, "Astoria's idea, not mine." He said, raising his eyebrows as if he thought it was strange too.

After another 10 minutes or so the girls got sleepy so Draco and Harry took them up to Harry's rooms where Molly was going to keep an eye out for them until the party finished at midnight. After both men had tucked their girls in and kissed them goodnight they met in the hallway and headed back down to their wives.

"We need to sort this awkwardness out." Harry said to Draco, he had wanted to say it for weeks, but the alcohol had given him the kick in the direction he needed to be going in.

Draco nodded, he looked relieved that Harry had finally brought it up, "You're right. When does the three broomsticks close on a Saturday?" Draco asked.

"Midnight." Harry replied, glancing at Draco, "But the Hogs Head is open until 2am."

Draco caught his eye for a moment before saying, "Well then we'll go to the hogs head after the party, we'll sort this out."

"Whatever this is." Harry muttered, but Draco heard him and snorted as if to say he seconded that, no more was said on the matter because they reached the entrance hall and went back into the party. The dance floor was a lot livelier now and Ginny and Astoria dragged their husbands up to dance. Ginny smiled at Harry as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "Was Lils okay?"

Harry smiled back, "She was fine, but I doubt she'll sleep, being in the same room as Neve and Kathy is too exciting, they'll talk for hours."

Ginny chuckled, "Mum will tell them off and make sure they sleep." She said, and both of them remembered when Molly had done the same thing to them when Harry was staying with the family.

They didn't get to continue their conversation any further as Astoria cut in and they ended up swapping partners. Harry frowned at Draco's wife, she smiled at him and spun him a little away from Draco and Ginny, Harry could see this woman had an ulterior motive.

"Are you sleeping with my husband?" Astoria asked in a whisper, Harry's eyes widened, "What? No!" He exclaimed in the quietest voice he could muster.

Astoria narrowed her eyes at him, "Have you ever slept with him?" She then asked.

A small blush rose in Harry's cheeks but he answered honestly, "Yes, but Astoria this was a long time ago-"

"I know that Harry, that wasn't my point." Astoria said, she didn't sound angry or even annoyed, she looked a little sheepish, "Before you, there were others for Draco, right?" She asked and Harry realised what she was going at.

His eyes widened, "Oh! Yeah, I mean Draco got around a lot at school, I think Pansy Parkinson was first but there were a couple of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws mixed in there too."

Astoria nodded, "And do you remember my sister Daphne?" She asked, Harry nodded, "Vaguely, she was never one of the Slytherins who hated me but she didn't like me much either."

Astoria chuckled, "You're the boy who lived, rule number one of being a Slytherin is to hate you." She joked and despite the strange situation Harry actually chuckled with her. Astoria was serious again in a moment, "I really want to know two things, two things I've always wondered about."

"Go ahead and ask." Harry told her, he swore to himself he'd answer her questions honestly, he owed her that at least.

"Did Draco ever sleep with Daphne?" Astoria asked and she looked as if she was dreading the answer. Harry could answer that question truthfully because he'd interrogated Draco about his sexual history after their first couple of weeks hiding away from the world, there had been 9 previous partners before Harry which had surprised him because for Harry there had only been Ginny and Draco.

"Nope." Harry said, and he smiled at the look of relief that passed across Astoria's face, "Daphne was best friends with Pansy who was madly in love with Draco so he never even thought about going there."

"The other thing…" Astoria began, trailing off and biting her lip, "Were you the only guy?" She asked. Again this was a question that Harry could answer, although he wasn't sure what answer she wanted and if he could give her the one she wanted, "No." Harry said again, "Before me there was Blaise Zabini and a Ravenclaw whose name I can't remember."

Astoria looked more relieved than ever when she heard this, "Oh thank god." She said quietly, "I know it sounds stupid but I thought if you were the only one it meant more than just a fling."

The words hurt Harry a little, he liked to believe it was more than a fling but he let Astoria believe what she was saying, "Don't worry, it was nothing." He said and they began to move back to the middle of the dance floor.

While Astoria and Harry had been talking Ginny and Draco had struck up a strange little bond.

"I understand you know." Ginny said with a soft smile at Draco.

Draco found himself really looking at the woman, Harry had done well with Ginny Weasley, in her Gryffindor red dress her figure was amazing, and her long red hair reached her back, she only needed the slightest amount of make up and she had the most charming smile. His own wife was very pretty but artificially so, she used so much product and beauty spells, Ginny was the complete opposite, she was a natural beauty.

"You understand what?" Draco asked as he spun her out and brought her back to him again, almost lazily, Draco had always been a good dancer, it got him well in with the girls.

"The whole thing with Harry." Ginny explained and realisation shone in Draco's eyes as the woman continued, "He was your arch enemy and in some way there was a connection there, sparks, you enjoyed fighting with each other and sparring with each other." Draco was surprised by how well she understood it, he wished Astoria could be as open minded as the former Weasley.

"Hm, that was pretty much it." Draco admitted, that had been what had drawn him to Harry in the first place that night of the battle, the night he'd seen the boy who lived in a different light and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

Ginny smiled again, and she looked at him as if she could see right through him, similar to how Snape had looked at people, only without the eerie glare, "It was only natural that you had to experiment to understand that strange connection and I think it was good that you did, because now you are free to be the good friends you always had the potential to be."

Draco returned Ginny's contagious smile, "I'm glad you understand." He said truthfully but before anymore could be said they were joined again by Astoria and Harry and they switched partners again so that the two men were back with their own wives. The two couples spent the rest of the night dancing until the clock hit 12 and everyone began to file out of the hall. Draco kissed Astoria on the cheek and told her he was going to go for a drink in Hogsmeade with Harry. Ginny overheard and smiled, kissing her own husband goodnight, she called back to him as he walked away, "You know the drill, if you get too drunk don't come back here, go to Miones!"

Harry laughed lightly as he left the castle with Draco. A couple of years after Harry and Ginny had gotten married Harry had come home very drunk and he and Ginny had gotten into a huge pointless fight so now whenever he was drunk he went to Hermione and Ron's and she sobered him up and sent him home or he stayed the night in their spare room.

The two men walked down the dark path in silence, the air was tense between them, they both wanted to talk to ease the tension but neither of them knew what to talk about. They reached the iron wrought gates and with the password they opened. They walked through Hogsmeade again in silence, the street was empty, after midnight the only thing open was the Hogs Head and not many people really went there…

As they walked they kept a careful distance from each other, just as an extra precaution, they had both only had a few pints of butterbeer at the party which could do no real harm. After what felt like forever they went into the Hogs Head which was empty apart from the bartender. Harry smiled, "Hey Aberforth." He said happily.

Aberforth smiled at him, "Alright there Harry." He said with a nod in Draco's direction, "What will it be?"

Harry ordered for the both of them, "Two firewhiskey's." He said. Harry noticed Draco nod out of the corner of his eye as if to say he approved of the order, the two of them stood silently at the bar until Aberforth slid the drinks toward them, Harry thanked the man and he and Draco sat down in a dark corner of the room.

"So…" Harry began awkwardly and Draco only raised an eyebrow at him, "We're here to talk about this tension." He said, as if reminding Harry why he'd requested this meeting.

"Yes…" Harry said slowly as if he was deep in thought, "We need to relieve it." He blushed when he realised how his words sounded and from the smirk on Draco's face he'd noticed too.

"I didn't mean that kind of relief." Harry muttered, hiding his face to try and control his embarrassment.

"What happened?" Draco asked abruptly and although Harry had an inkling of what the Slytherin meant by that he pretended he didn't, "What do you mean?"

Draco rolled his eyes, downing his firewhiskey, "Don't play dumb Potter. We were getting along fine until about a month and a half ago, that was when all the awkwardness started up again."

Harry was angry with Draco at the use of his last name and he couldn't really explain why, "Potter again am I?" He asked coolly, "I feel no need to tell you anything of such a personal business Malfoy."

Draco shot a glare his way, "I've been wracking my brains trying to figure it out and the only thing I can think of is you got cold when I got back together with Astoria."

Harry froze, Draco knew more than Harry thought he had, but he could be bluffing, how could he have known Harry was in the corridor that day? Draco noticed Harry tense up and his eyes narrowed, "So that is the reason. What the hell is going on?"

Harry downed his firewhiskey and walked over to the bar to get another, Draco followed him, watching suspiciously as Harry downed a second glass. Draco ordered another himself and leaned against the bar beside him, "I'm not letting this go until you tell me why the fuck you're so bothered about the fact my wife and I are happy again." Draco said stubbornly.

Harry snorted, "Happy? Are you having a laugh? You hate each other, all you ever do is fight." He shot Draco a smug look, "Unlike you I have a Wife who tells me things."

Draco could get nasty too if that was what this was, "Maybe, but unlike you I have a wife who I actually have sex with."

That caught Harry off-guard and Draco noticed. With a smirk of pride at his own nastiness Draco downed his second glass of whiskey the moment Aberforth slid it across the bar. Aberforth watched the scene playing out in front of him cautiously.

"You're best friend Hermione, she tells Severus things." Draco said, that arrogant smirk still on his face, Harry turned to him something stronger than anger blazing in his eyes, resorting to muggle violence he punched Draco in the face as hard as he could muster. Draco staggered back, his face stinging, he wiped the blood from his mouth and whipped his wand out, Aberforth was used to this kind of crap going on in his bar, he was wise enough to not get in the way. He stealthily snuck around the bar and out of sight.

Harry and Draco shot spell after spell at each other, screaming at each other as they did so, "What is it then Potter? Are you jealous?" He asked with that sneer Harry knew so well, Draco shot a paralysing spell at him but he dodged it quickly.

"If I recall Malfoy you were the one who kissed me." Harry shot back, following his taunt with, "Aguamenti!"

Draco swore as boiling water shot out of Harry's wand at him, "If I recall you didn't exactly mind!" He hissed, "Incarcerous!" The bonds shot out of Draco's wand towards Harry but he stopped them with a quick "Incendio!" before they reached him.

Draco seemed bothered that Harry was so good in duelling, he had apparently forgotten that since the last time he had duelled the boy who lived Harry had duelled Voldemort 3 times. He swore loudly, "C'mon Potter, just tell me, are you jealous?"

"So what if I am?" Harry asked, they were circling each other now, neither of them casting spells, "I'm married."

"I know." Draco said and something in his voice was different, off. Harry caught it immediately, he narrowed his eyes at the blonde, "Are _you _jealous?" He asked.

Draco was immediately defensive, "Why would I be fucking jealous? Have you seen my wife?" He asked, the question was rhetorical of course, "Confringo!" He yelled, smashing the vase by Harry's head into small shards of glass several of which hit Harry in the face, "Have you seen mine?" He shot back, Draco wasn't getting out of this easily.

"Diffindo!" Harry yelled, careful to make sure he slashed only Draco's arm, he didn't want to kill him, just hurt him. Draco glared at Harry with such anger it was almost contagious. "So why aren't you sleeping with your wife?" Draco asked, taunting Harry, "Worried you'll think about me?"

"You arrogant bastard!" Harry growled, he'd not felt this angry in a long time, "Expulso!" His aim was good, Harry's spell hit the shelf above Draco's head causing it to shatter and send bits of wood flying, several of them cutting Draco in the process.

"Does your wife know Potter?" Draco asked, still taunting his old enemy, this felt like déjà vu somehow, it was like they were two adrenaline pumped teenagers who wanted to kill each other every time they looked at each other.

"Does yours Malfoy?" Harry asked, his tone the same taunting one was as Draco's, "Because I lied to her tonight for you, I wonder how she'd feel if she knew I really was more than a fling to you…"

Draco's taunting stopped immediately and his eyes darkened, "I swear to God Potter if you tell her anything I will fucking kill you."

"I killed Voldemort, you think I'm afraid of a little death eater like you?" Harry asked, he knew he'd hit a soft spot with the death eater jibe.

"I'm not a death eater!" Draco screamed, the fury in his voice something Harry had only ever heard when he was up the astronomy tower that night unbeknownst to Draco. "Levicorpus!" Draco cast but Harry was once again too fast for him, "Protego!" The spell was deflected and Draco threw his wand away in anger.

"What are we going to gain from this Potter?" Draco asked, "If you want to kill me go right on, I'm not armed!" He raised his hands as if in defeat but Harry put his wand back in his pocket, "I don't want to kill you."

"Then what the hell are we doing?" Draco asked helplessly.

"I don't know." Harry said honestly. They looked at each other for a long moment, the tension in the room worse than it ever was before, the anger from before slowly dissipating but not complete gone yet. Both of them had clear visible scars from the duel but the main scars were the ones that couldn't be seen.

In the second it had taken for Harry to sigh, close his eyes and compose himself Draco had crossed the room to stand in front of him. At first Harry was wary until he saw Draco's wand lying on the floor at the other side of the room.

Harry glanced up at Draco, the question in his eyes, Draco's grey eyes bored into Harry's, and Harry didn't know what the Slytherin was looking for in them. They were both so drunk now, those whiskeys hadn't been a good idea, the adrenaline of the fight hadn't left them yet either, both of them were breathing heavily.

Before Harry could realise what was happening Draco's lips were on his, Harry let out a small gasp of surprise, but this only encouraged Draco as he pressed Harry into the wall and kissed him with more force. The kiss was one of anger, that was for sure, an aggressive combination of tongue, teeth and lips, and it left both men panting. At some point Harry had grabbed Draco's shirt and they were so close that they could feel the heat radiating from the others body.

Aberforth nervously pointed at the stairs from behind the bar, "There's a free room." He said sheepishly, Harry and Draco had completely forgotten this was a motel as well as a pub. Harry's already flushed cheeks reddened further at the mans words, he shrugged, "You've done me a few favours, it's on the house if you want it." He walked away, around the bar and vanished from their sight. Harry and Draco were silent for a moment, both watching the spot where Aberforth had disappeared.

When Harry eventually looked back to Draco he saw lust in his eyes that he was sure was mirrored in his own eyes, an intense staring competition went down between them and Harry realised he was still holding tightly onto Draco's shirt, he pulled Draco towards him capturing his lips in a crushing kiss. Draco deepened the kiss, running his tongue along Harry's bottom lip until he moaned and battled with Draco for dominance. Draco underestimated the Gryffindors strength because he easily managed to overpower Draco and turn the tables, pushing Draco hard against the wall without breaking the kiss.

"Maybe we should take him up on his offer." Draco gasped breathlessly when they eventually had to stop for air.

"Yeah." Harry breathed, "I think so." Draco's eyes lit up, as if he hadn't expected that answer, Harry took a step back from Draco and turned to the stairs, Draco followed him immediately and the short walk up the stairs felt longer than ever. Harry knew the room Aberforth spoke of apparently because there were two doors and he opened the one on the left. Draco followed him into the room and the second that the door was closed Harry once again had Draco backed up against the wall, he used his bodyweight to pin Draco there and he didn't exactly try to get out of the other mans grip. Harry's lips were on Draco's again, this time however he made sure he had dominance, in every single way possible. Harry could torture Draco in more ways than one, he ground his hips against Draco's and moved his lips away from the blonde's own swollen lips to his pale neck, Draco groaned in pleasure as Harry bit down on his pulse point causing him to thrust forward against Harry, "Fuck Potter, what are you doing?" Draco groaned.

Harry smirked at the mess the blonde was in, he felt a sense of smugness to know that he had caused that, again he was resorting to the second name but Harry found he didn't mind as much in this situation, "There is more than one type of torture, Malfoy." He said, the blonde's name rolling off his lips as he resumed his biting and nipping of Draco's neck, Draco moaned and his head fell back against the door, Harry's smirk hadn't moved, he for once had one over on Draco Malfoy. Harry decided to put the blonde out of his misery, stopping his kisses for a moment he unbuttoned Draco's shirt in record speed, Draco followed the other mans example and in a flurry of heated kisses Harry was backing a half dressed Draco toward the bed.

As they fell back onto the bed belts were discarded on the floor shortly followed by two pairs of trousers, Draco groaned as Harry ground himself against him, his leg involuntarily wrapping itself around Harry's, pulling him closer, as Harry caught his lips in another searing kiss his mind went blank, the only thing he could focus on was the feelings coursing through him, the adrenaline that hadn't yet worn off and the sheer pleasure of their activities. When Harry broke the kiss, his mouth moving further down Draco's body he had a moment of clarity.

"Harry." Draco gasped, "We're married." Harry caught Draco's eye for a moment and whatever reservations he had were vanquished, any objections died in his throat at the look of pure unadulterated lust in the brunettes eyes, as he caught Draco's lips in a kiss that made his entire body tingle both of them were thinking about things very far away from their wives.

**TBC.**


	9. The Aftermath of a Drunken Night

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 9 - The Aftermath of a Drunken Night_

_**A/N - Woo so nearly done, this chap and one more then the epilogue! For some reason I never count the epilogue as a real chapter, I don't know why because it is one…oh well!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I think it's fairly obvious that I own absolutely nothing except the idea for this story which isn't even entirely true because it was inspired by a song…**_

_**Anyhow, enjoy!**_

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><p>When Harry Potter stumbled into Hermione Granger, formerly Weasley's house at 6.30am on Sunday morning he wasn't surprised to find her sitting on her sofa reading a book.<p>

Hermione looked up when the door opened, Harry had a key of course, her mouth opened in shock when she saw the state he was in, "Harry you look like shit, what happened?"

Harry frowned and caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror for the first time since his duel with Draco, he had little cuts all over his face from the glass he'd smashed, Draco had looked worse when they had gone their separate ways, the punch had bruised and the splinters of wood had given him similar cuts, there was the burn on his chest from the boiling water too, Harry's stomach churned with guilt, he shouldn't have let his anger take control of him like that, he hadn't let that happen since Voldemort's soul had been inside him.

"Draco." Harry muttered, and he walked over to the sofa Hermione had just been sitting on and sunk down onto it, Hermione frowned, she conjured up a bowl of something and a wet cloth, she told him to lie down on the bed and dabbed at the cuts as she spoke to him, "Tell me what happened."

"We duelled." Harry said, Hermione immediately looked worried but he said, "We're both fine, he's worse off than me but he'll live."

"I don't have to ask what you duelled about." Hermione said, dabbing his face with a little more force making him wince, she glared at him slightly, "The whole power thing, you're both men, you both want to be the one in control."

Hermione had a point there, but Harry wasn't going to let her know that, "We duelled about the fact I was jealous when I saw him with Astoria and the fact I wasn't having sex with Ginny." He shot a glare at his best friend at these words.

Hermione groaned, "Severus just can't keep his bloody mouth shut." She complained.

"So? How did it end?" Hermione asked, assuming it was with Draco storming off in anger or something similar. Harry snorted, "In a motel bed in the Hogs Head."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, "You duelled and caused each other all this pain and then had sex?" She asked, scoffing at the silliness of it all.

Harry winced as Hermione pressed the cloth down hard on one of the bigger cuts, she shook her head, "You two definitely have a love/hate relationship."

Harry rolled his eyes, "No." He argued, "It's more of a hate/sex relationship."

Hermione actually laughed at that, "Well that makes for good aggressive sex then." She said, ever the optimist.

Harry groaned, "Exactly! Which is the problem, it was amazing sex, and it was with a man, and I'm married to a woman! A woman whom I have a child with and who is my best mate's little sister!"

Hermione watched him for a moment thoughtfully, she put the bowl and the cloth to the side, "You want my honest opinion about your…predicament?" She asked after finding the right word.

Harry nodded, "Harsh but true is what I really need right now." He said, practically begging for her to shout at him and say he'd been an asshole and deserved to die. It would make him feel crap which was what he needed.

Hermione sighed, "I think you're screwed. You have to tell Ginny and even her patience won't get you two through this, you clearly have stronger feelings for Malfoy than her and if you don't tell her you're going to be living a lie, which you can't do." Hermione paused and Harry sensed a but was coming, she didn't say anything for a few seconds as her eyes searched his, Harry looked at her pointedly, "But…"

"But," Hermione began, "If you tell Ginny she'll leave you, you have no idea what will happen with the custody of Lily, she may or may not tell Ron the reason but if she does you run the risk of losing your best friend and the entire Weasley family."

"So basically what you're saying is I fucked up so badly I'm going to mess up possibly every single part of my life." Harry said, feeling even worse than before at this news but he had asked Hermione for harsh but true and she had definitely delivered.

Hermione nodded, a sincere look on her face, she joined him on the sofa, lying down next to him and hugging him, "Except me." Hermione said brightly, "Hey, we can be divorcee's of a Weasley and be hated by the entire clan together!" She said.

Harry frowned, wrapping his arm casually around Hermione, "The Weasley's hate you? Since when?" he asked.

Hermione sighed, "Since Friday night, I was going to tell you at our usual Monday drinking session but since you're here now…" She trailed off for a moment, "Ron came by Hogwarts looking for me, apparently someone in my office said I was there, he needed me for something to do with finalising the divorce papers, only he found me in a comprising position in Severus's office."

Harry's eyes widened, "How comprising?" He asked curiously.

Hermione smacked Harry on the arm but they could both tell her heart wasn't in it, "Comprising enough, he of course ran home to his Mother and the entire clan turned against me, except Ginny of course but when this knowledge comes out I think that may change."

Harry sighed softly, his hand gently running up and down Hermione's arm in a comforting motion, "Why do people have affairs?" He asked. Hermione shook her head against Harry's chest, "I have no idea." She said honestly.

At that point the fire roared to life and Ginny's voice called out, "Mione, you there?"

Harry and Hermione jumped up immediately, "Shit!" Harry swore under his breath, "Cover for me!"

Hermione nodded and walked over to the fire, "Morning Ginny." She said with a smile.

"Is Harry there?" Ginny asked, she sounded worried.

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, he turned up drunk out of his mind last night after duelling with Malfoy." She lied easily and rolled her eyes at Ginny.

"Oh God, he's such an idiot sometimes when he's drunk." Ginny said and Harry had an inkling she was rolling her eyes too, "Is he there just now?" She asked.

Harry shook his head at Hermione and she said to Ginny, "No, he's still asleep, the potion I gave him last night kind of knocked him out, I'll send him over to Hogwarts once he's woken up and eaten something."

"Okay, thanks a lot for that Hermione." Ginny said. Hermione smiled again at the woman, "No problem Gin." She said and with another roar the fire in the grill went back to its normal orange coloured flames.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you Hermione." He said genuinely, "You saved my life."

Hermione smiled a little sadly at him, "You know I'd do anything for you Harry." She said, joining him once again to lie down on the sofa.

"I said I loved him last night." Harry said out of the blue and Hermione was startled by that, "Really?" She asked to which Harry nodded.

"We were really drunk, we both said it, but I can't remember who said it first, I think it might have been me." Harry said, the memories of their drunken night scattered around in his head, he groaned, "I was drunk but I think I meant it."

"You realise this means you really have no choice, you've got to leave Ginny." Hermione said and Harry felt a sense of déjà vu, this felt like the many conversations they'd had about how Hermione had to leave Ron. In this case maybe Harry had to take his own advice and do as Hermione said. After all she'd left Ron and she came out of it alright.

"We didn't talk after." Harry continued, trying to make sense of the jumble of memories floating around, "We just lay there and then we both left, we said we'd talk about it later, I don't know where he went." Harry sighed, "Back to Astoria probably, he's not like me, he can go home and pretend he didn't just have sex wit his ex-lover, I can't do that, Ginny would know for sure that something was up."

"You're more human than him." Hermione joked lightly but Harry thought she wasn't that far away from the truth.

"So do you think we're officially going to be disowned from the Weasley family tree?" Harry asked, standing up and pulling her up with him, Hermione nodded dully and Harry sighed, turning on the small radio in the corner of the room. Hermione smiled at him as a song came on and he pulled her closer to him to dance.

Ever since Ron had left during their horcrux hunt all of those years ago and they'd shared that dance in the tent it had become a thing, when they were sad they would dance, most of the time they'd go out somewhere but since it was nearing 7am on a Sunday morning Harry doubted any nightclubs would be open.

As Hermione had promised Ginny she gave Harry a potion to get rid of his headache and the aches and pains from the alcohol and the duel, Hermione checked the clock as she put some pancakes on the pan to cook, she wasn't that good at cooking but pancakes were a speciality of hers. Harry loved breakfast at Hermione's.

"Give it 3 minutes and they will smell the pancakes and be in here." Hermione said, talking about her children, she glanced at the clock again and Harry chuckled as he heard movement from upstairs, Hermione put two pancakes on a plate for Harry and he helped himself to some fruit and yoghurt to have with them, at least he was being partially healthy. When Harry took his first bite the sound of padding feet rushing down the stairs could be heard and the gaggle of children appeared in the doorway still in their pyjamas.

Heading the crew of hungry children was the eldest, 9 year old Rose, aka mini Mione as Harry had christened her. Harry was the Godfather to all of Ron and Hermione's children. Rose was tall, like Ron but in every other aspect she was Hermione, her dark wavy hair wasn't as bushy as Hermione's had been but her hazel eyes were identical to her mothers. The twins, Nicholas and Samson were the opposite, for 7 year olds they were very small, but they had been born 2 months premature which Hermione had always said was the reason why. The boys were identical twins, both of them had the Weasley red hair, but it was more of a brown-red than a distinct red like Ron's hair. They again had Hermione's eyes. The two boys were lurking behind Rose and standing to the side, clutching a toy rabbit close to her chest was the cutest child Harry had ever laid eyes upon. 6 year old Guinevere or Gwen as everyone called her. Gwen's hair was shorter than Rose's, it stopped just after her shoulders and she was the only one of Ron and Hermione's children to inherit Ron's blue eyes.

"Pancakes!" Rose exclaimed, walking into the kitchen and sitting down at the table, Hermione chuckled, "Yes Rose, its pancakes for breakfast." The younger 3 children followed their sisters example and sat down at the table with Harry as Hermione put a large plate of pancakes down in front of them.

As he ate pancakes with his best friends and her kids who he loved to bits Harry forgot his problems, but that didn't last long. The moment his pancakes were finished Hermione stood up and hugged him, "Do it now and let me know what happens." She said, kissing him on the cheek as he left with a wave to the kids.

Harry left the family home and apparated to Hogsmeade, he trailed his feet heavily behind him as he walked up the path, he wasn't particularly looking forward to breaking his wife's heart.

When Harry got to their quarters Ginny wasn't there and neither was Lily. His first thought was that Draco had told Astoria who had told Ginny but his fears were squashed when he saw them all outside, he must have missed them because they were around the lake under an old tree. Harry walked over to the little group, Draco was sitting with Astoria leaning against him, watching his kids like everything was fine. This made Harry's inside squirm angrily. He glared at Draco when he saw him, glad to see an angry purple bruise on his face. When Harry reached the group he addressed Ginny and Lily, "We need to go back to Grimmauld place." He said and although Lily whined about it Ginny saw something in Harry's eyes that said he was serious. She stood up immediately and said goodbye to Draco and Astoria dragging a grumpy Lily to the apparation point.

Harry turned and shot a look back at Draco, a warning look that clearly stated 'you know what I'm about to do'. The family apparated back to the Black manor and Harry sent Lily upstairs to play. After pulling Ginny into the dining room he put silencing charms on the door and turned to his confused and worried wife.

"I cheated on you Ginny." Harry said, the guilt was probably clear on his face because he couldn't keep it out of his voice.

Ginny stared at him emotionlessly for a moment, "Oh." Was all she managed to say. Harry turned away from her as he tried to gather his thoughts, "I slept with someone last night."

Harry turned back around to face her and saw her nod slightly at him, "I see." She said, her voice wasn't cold but it didn't contain any other emotions either. Harry felt like his heart was being wrenched out of his chest when he saw her frustrated hands rub angrily at the tears she couldn't stop from falling.

"It was Draco, wasn't it?" Ginny asked although she knew the answer before any words fell from Harry's lips, "Yes." Harry said simply, Ginny gave him another fractional nod, without another word she left the room and Harry watched her walk up the stairs, he figured she just wanted to be alone so he let her go. He sighed, leaning against the hard wooden wall, he had screwed things up so badly with her, she had always been too good for him.

Harry closed his eyes and let his mind be blissfully blank for a minute but it literally lasted a minute because she walked down the stairs with her Hogwarts trunk in hand, she gave Harry a small forced smile, "I just wish I could be what you need." Ginny said, the defeat in her voice killing Harry, but in the end he knew it would have been harder to live with himself every day knowing he was living a lie.

Ginny put her trunk down and walked over to Harry, she held her hand out, it was clenched shut like she was holding something. Harry frowned but held his hand out, Ginny unclenched her hand and dropped her engagement and wedding ring into his open hand. She looked at them sadly for a lingering moment, "I need to get away, Lily is your responsibility now." She simply said and just like that she picked up her trunk and walked to the door.

Harry watched her go gracefully, just the way he'd expected Ginny Weasley to go, not that he'd ever thought if she left it would be under the conditions it was. This was something he hadn't anticipated happening, ever.

Harry sighed deeply, the despair settling in, he felt like he was carrying a huge weight in his stomach, he figured metaphorically he was and that the weight was the guilt. Harry was ashamed of the wreck his life was in as he grabbed a piece of parchment from the table in the entrance hall, he pulled a quill out of his pocket and dipped it in the ink next to the pile of parchment. Harry closed his eyes for a moment before writing the short letter to Hermione,

_Hermione_

_I told her everything, she handed over her engagement and wedding ring and said Lily was my responsibility now. She had her trunk with her. I don't know what it was but I just got a feeling, I don't think she's ever coming back. If it's all right with you Lily and I might move in for a while, being with Rose might do her some good and God knows that I need you._

_Love, Harry._

Harry tied the note around his owl, parsnips, leg and sent him off out of the window to Hermione, he hoped she'd have a quick reply. Harry couldn't face his daughter right now not in this state. He walked over to the back door of the house and sat on the step, looking out to the pretty little rose garden and the makeshift Quidditch pitch, he'd never felt like such a failure before.

Harry wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there for but the sky had started to cloud over and droplets of rain began to fall from the sky, standing up he walked back into the house, slamming the backdoor with a little more force than necessary.

As Harry sunk down into the couch, wishing he could just melt into it his owl flew through the open window with a reply from Hermione, he snatched the parchment and gave parsnip an owl treaty. On the back of his note to her Hermione had written,

_Harry,_

_God, that's awful but I suppose you knew it might have gone down like that. I'm sorry anyway. Of course, you and Lily are more than welcome here for as long as you both need. I think you're right, being with Rose could help right now, it will be hard for her if Ginny really isn't coming back. Like I said outcasts need to stick together, I've put a steak roast on for tonight if you two want to join us then, hope to see you soon,_

_Hermione._

Harry was relieved at the reply and gathered his things quickly, he went up to Lily's room and did the same, packing a large bag for her, she was excited when he told her they would be staying with Hermione and the kids for a while and Harry didn't have it in him and didn't know how to tell the 8 year old girl that her Mother probably wouldn't be at her 9th birthday in a months time.

As Harry left the house with Lily he realised that the metaphorical bomb that he'd been going on about in his head had just exploded and now he was left to pick out all the recognisable pieces from the wreckage.

**TBC.**


	10. The Weight of the World

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 10 - The Weight of the World_

_**A/N - Not much to say, just that this is now finished apart from the epilogue, Woohoo! I think this is the fastest ever chapter story I've written! I've just loved writing it that much!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p>It was a miserable November day, it was a typical November day for Scotland. The rain was lashing down so heavily that all flying classes had been cancelled and Care of Magical Creatures lessons had been moved to the great hall. The poor students who had Herbology were running across the grounds to the greenhouses as fast as possible. Harry felt like the weather was mirroring his awful mood. It was a Monday too which just made everything 10 times worse.<p>

Harry had turned up at Hogwarts that morning just in time to grab some toast and run to make it to his first class. He'd left Lily at Hermione's and she'd promised to drop both girls off at their tutor before she went to work. Normally Hermione would drop Rose off and then detour to the burrow to drop the twins and Gwen off but with the ongoing situation she had to make other arrangements.

Harry had found it quite amusing at first actually. He'd taught his first class and in his bitter mood he'd taken a total of 20 points from Slytherin for reasons he would have normally overlooked. He assumed his 3rd years would spread the news and warn the other students that Professor Potter was in one of his moods. No doubt they'd all be walking on eggshells for the rest of the day. He had a free period now before his next class after interval so he planned on finding Draco, he walked down to the dungeons to do just that when he came upon an interesting sight.

Through the glass pane of his office Harry saw Snape looking exasperated as he tried to entertain Nicholas and Samson meanwhile Gwen was bouncing up and down on his lap. Harry grinned and walked into the mans office, "Babysitting?" He asked with a chuckle.

Snape breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the man, "Potter, thank God. I don't understand children."

Harry's amusement increased as he said hello to the boys and Gwen, he turned back to Snape, "Why are they here anyway?" He asked as he sunk back into an armchair across from Snape's desk.

Snape's eyes darkened, "Hermione said she couldn't take them to the burrow and she had no one else who'd look after them, since I don't take classes anymore she thought I'd be perfect for the job."

Harry laughed, "Perfect apart from the fact that you and children are the strangest mix since peanut butter and jam?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly." Snape grumbled and Harry shook his head in amusement, he turned to the twins, "What's up guys?" He asked.

Samson replied, "I'm bored Uncle Harry." Nicholas nodded, echoing with a, "Me too!"

Harry nodded, it was pouring down outside so he'd have to think of an inside activity for them to do, he suddenly got an idea, "Hey you guys like wizard chess don't you?" He asked, both boys nodded eagerly and Harry smiled, "Severus taught Lily how to play, he can teach you too."

The twins eagerly nodded and Severus looked a little relieved that he could do something now, "I'll take Gwen for the day." Harry offered, he walked forward and lifted his arms out to her but she folded hers around her chest, "No! I want to stay with Severus!" She complained and Harry raised an eyebrow at Severus who just shrugged, "You can come to all of my classes with me…" He said slowly, bribing the girl.

Gwen thought about it, and then jumped down and let Harry pick her up, Harry smiled at Snape, "I'll check back in on you at dinner time." He said, "Oh and watch out for those two, they cheat like nothing else when they play chess."

With that Harry walked out of the door, carrying Gwen on his hip, "Do you want to help me teach my first years?" Harry asked Gwen who nodded with a bright grin, Harry smiled back at her, his goddaughter had him wrapped around her little finger and she was only 4.

"Gained another child since I last saw you Potter?" A cool voice drawled and it sent shivers up Harry's spine, he forced himself to keep a calm façade as he looked up at Draco, he was leaning against the wall, a small smirk on his face.

"This is Guinevere." Harry said calmly, "Guinevere Granger."

Gwen cut in, "But everyone calls me Gwen because Guinevere is too long." She said matter of factly, she wriggled so Harry put her down, she stood a little away from Draco, as if keeping a cautious distance.

"That's Grangers kid?" Draco asked, sounding surprised, Harry nodded and narrowed his eyes at the man, "What do you want?" He asked.

Draco shrugged, "What? I can't meet you in a corridor and have a chat with you?" He asked innocently but Harry knew there was more to it than that.

Harry watched as Gwen walked a little away to talk to a portrait, he kept his eyes on her as he spoke to Draco, just in case she ran off, "No you can't, not after what happened on Saturday, we haven't had that talk yet."

"We're having it now." Draco said, he sounded too casual for the type of conversation they were having.

"I told Ginny yesterday, she left me. Lily's staying with Hermione and she left Ron and he knows about Snape so basically we're both disowned." Harry explained, looking briefly back at Draco. The pureblood snorted, "Disowned from the Weasley family tree? That's hardly something to cry over is it?"

Harry glared at him, "I'm ashamed of what happened, unlike you." He retorted.

"Oh I'm ashamed too." Draco assured the other man, "I'm just not planning on telling Astoria, ever, she'll take the kids away from me and leave for good."

"So you're the coward then," Harry said quietly so Gwen wouldn't hear, "Just like all those years ago when you were afraid of what the world would think, I guess once a coward always a coward."

Draco didn't say anything, he stared at Harry for a moment and then the boy who lived walked over to Gwen and took her hand and without glancing back at Draco he walked away.

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><p>Draco had gone straight to his rooms without dinner that evening after his final class of the day. He hadn't felt like eating anything since his talk with Harry in the corridor. He felt guiltier than ever, but not just for what he was doing to his wife, he felt guilty about how he left things with Harry that first time so many years ago.<p>

_Draco and Harry were lying in bed together, the warm sunlight shining through their hotel window, the silhouette of the Eiffel tower in the distance. Ever since they'd disappeared they'd been all over Europe but the adrenaline was beginning to wear off, the luxury and secrecy of it all wasn't as appealing anymore._

"_Draco, I think I-" Harry had begun to say, but Draco cut him off, quickly putting a hand over his mouth, "Don't say it." He warned Harry as he stood and quickly began to get dressed._

_Harry frowned, about to question the man, but Draco only shook his head, "If you say it this will get complicated." He explained as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and grabbed his bag, "It's a fling, that's all."_

_The hurt in Harry's eyes made Draco feel horrible but he hid it, "I'm a Malfoy I can't do this, I'm not supposed to be doing this." He said as he threw his bag over his shoulder._

"_So that's it then? You're leaving because you're afraid of what the world will think? Of what the prophet will say?" Harry asked, standing up too and throwing his own clothes on._

"_Yes I am and you should be too. We can't be doing this Harry, imagine what would happen when the prophet found out, Draco Malfoy and the saviour of the wizarding world." Draco shook his head, "I'm leaving and I'm going to marry a woman and have children, and you'll go back home and marry Ginny and we'll never talk about this again, we'll never see each other again." Draco walked towards the door but Harry held out a hand to stop him, there was a fire burning in his eyes, "Leave then Draco but both of us know this wasn't just a fling." He said._

_Draco hesitated for a fraction of a second and the last thing that he heard as he walked out of the door was Harry's cold voice calling after him, he only said one word but Draco would never forget the bitterness it was said with._

"_Coward."_

Draco was pulled out of his thoughts by the portrait that guarded his rooms calling to him that his wife was here to see him. He quickly pulled himself together and told the portrait to let Astoria in. When she walked in Draco immediately knew something was wrong, she looked worried as she walked into the living room and for a split second Draco thought Ginny had told her.

"Draco, where is Ginny?" Astoria asked, "She quit yesterday and her friend Hermione told me that she and Harry are looking after Lily."

Draco bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, how could he explain this to her without telling her the truth? He knew telling her the truth was the right thing to do but how could he do it without losing everything important in his life?

"Yeah, she left Harry." Draco said in what he hoped was a casual tone of voice. Astoria's brow furrowed, "But why? They were fine. What happened?"

Draco made a rash decision in that moment when he replied, "Harry slept with someone else."

Astoria stared at him for a moment as if she was trying to put all the pieces together in her head, "Oh God Draco, you didn't." She said in a quiet pained voice.

Draco looked down, unable to meet her gaze, "I'm sorry Astoria." He said simply and he knew the words weren't enough to make up for what he'd done, nothing ever would be.

When Astoria didn't say anything for a long moment Draco looked up, she didn't look angry, just hurt as she caught Draco's eye, "I should have known." She said softly, "From the start I had my suspicions but you assured me that nothing would happen." She shook her head and repeated, "I should have known."

Draco shook his head, "You couldn't have Astoria, I didn't even know." He said, glad that they weren't fighting.

Astoria sighed deeply and took a step back, "I'm going to try and find Ginny, I'll owl you the divorce and custody papers." With another step she slid her engagement and wedding rings off her finger and put them on the coffee table, before Draco could say another word or try and stop her she'd walked out of the room and the portrait had slid shut behind her.

He wasn't sure what it was that stopped him from going after her but something did, he supposed he just didn't see the point anymore, it was finally over for good.

Draco knew what he needed to do know, he didn't like it but he knew. He walked to Harry's rooms and found out from the portrait that he wasn't staying there tonight, he was staying at Hermione's. Grudgingly Draco trudged down to the dungeons where he found Snape in his office.

"I need you to come with me to Hermione's." Draco said to the older man, he looked up from his paperwork with a frown, "Why?"

Draco sighed, "Because Harry's living there and I need to talk to him, but I don't know where she lives and she probably wouldn't let me in her house if I turned up alone." He explained with a look at Snape that practically begged him to help.

Severus grunted and stood up, "Fine." He said and he led the way to the apparation point at the gates. The two men walked in silence, until Draco spoke up halfway across the grounds, "Astoria left me because I slept with Harry."

"Hm." The man said thoughtfully, "That's a good enough reason to leave somebody."

Draco rolled his eyes, "I do feel guilty but its better this way, I'd feel worse lying to her for the rest of our lives."

"I suppose Potter's wife left him too then." Severus stated rather than asked. Draco nodded nonetheless, "He's been disowned from the Weasley family tree." He said with a strange bitter laugh, Severus smirked, "As has Hermione." He said, "Although as I told her it's not exactly a proud family tree to be in…"

Draco snorted, "I said the same thing to Harry, he didn't take kindly to it."

"Neither did Hermione." Severus said and the two men shared a small chuckle as they reached the apparation point, Severus told him the address and they spun on the spot, reappearing with a loud pop on the doorstep of a house.

Severus just walked in which surprised Draco, but he followed anyway. The door they'd arrived at was the backdoor and it led into a large kitchen. It was empty apart from Rose who was standing on a chair trying to reach the chocolate biscuits on the top shelf of a cabinet, when she spotted Severus she sighed in relief, "Severus! Please can you get that box down?"

Severus chuckled as he easily reached up and handed it to the girl, she grinned and thanked him before running into the living room. Severus put the chair back where it belonged and closed the cupboard door, treating the place like it was his house. Draco followed him further in when he walked into a hallway that had a door on the left, a staircase at the end and a large archway to the right. Severus walked through the archway into a large homey living room decorated with a fireplace and several comfy looking scarlet armchairs. Nicholas and Samson were sitting in front of the fireplace playing with miniature broomsticks that flew around the room, Rose and Lily were sitting on one of the two sofa's eating the biscuits Severus had gotten from the cupboard and Harry and Hermione were sitting on the other sofa with Gwen between them as Hermione read her a book.

When Hermione saw Severus and Draco she gave them a small smile and Harry looked in their direction, she continued to read the story to her daughter and Harry stood up and walked over to the pair, "What are you doing here Malfoy?" Harry asked coldly.

Draco quietly replied, "We need to talk Potter."

Severus pointed at the stairs, "There's another sitting room on the 3rd floor." He told them, Harry knew this of course and rather grudgingly led Draco to the second sitting room.

Hermione had a huge house. She and Ron had made a pretty good living for themselves but Hermione had largely paid for the house, being the head of a department brought in a lot of money but she wrote articles and papers and even books too and one of her biggest wishes had always been to get her dream house. The first floor had the kitchen, an informal dining room, a bathroom and the living room but as Harry and Draco went up the stairs to the second floor Draco looked around in surprise.

Harry noticed and pointed out what everything was, "That's the big dining room, the door at the end is the library and Hermione's study and the other door is Hermione's bedroom."

Draco followed Harry up to third floor, "I'm surprised that they have such a big house."

Harry shrugged, "The burrow was a big house, despite how shabby some people thought it was." He looked pointedly at the blonde who looked a little guilty. The two of them came out on the third floor which had a corridor with a door directly opposite them and three doors at the top.

Noticing Draco's curiosity Harry said, "The doors at the top are the kids room, Nick and Sam share, and this is where we're heading." He waked into the door opposite and they emerged into a living room, it was about half the size of the main living room and was clearly made for the kids.

The room had a round table in the corner with 4 seats, it was littered with drawing pads and crayons. There was a fireplace on the left side of the room which was barred off, Hermione was so worried someone would floo in and steal the kids when she was downstairs. At the far end of the room there was a diamond shaped wooden table and 4 two seater sofa's positioned around it.

Harry headed for the sofa's and summoned a bottle of firewhiskey and two glasses which appeared on the table with a pop. Draco frowned, "You can't transfigure food." He said in confusion as Harry poured the whiskey and slid it across the table to him.

Draco sat down on the sofa opposite Harry as the Gryffindor replied, "I didn't transfigure it, it's from Hermione's secret stash in the basement."

Draco was impressed "She has a basement?" He asked.

Harry nodded, as he poured himself some of the whiskey he'd given Draco, "Yep, complete with houselves, only her three houselves get paid vacation and wear clothes, they're a bit like Dobby, slightly crazy."

Draco knew it was harsh but he hadn't expected Granger and Weasley to do this well for themselves, Harry could practically see Draco's thoughts as he said, "It was mainly Hermione who paid for the house, it's pretty amazing, there are two floors above this one. My rooms on the very top floor."

"Anyway, I'm sure you didn't come here to talk about Hermione's house." Harry said, abruptly changing the subject back to why Draco was here in the first place.

Draco shook his head, "You're right, I didn't." He said, drinking from the glass of firewhiskey, "Astoria left me."

Harry was surprised and he didn't hide it quick enough, Draco saw it, he chuckled bitterly, "Not as much of a coward as you think I am Potter?"

Harry wasn't sure why they'd resorted back to second names but he didn't dwell on it for long, "Did you actually tell her or did she find out another way?"

"I told her." Draco said honestly, "She wondered why Ginny had quit her job and up and left so I told her the reason why." He finished the rest of his firewhiskey and poured himself some more, "She said she'd owl the divorce and custody papers to me and left."

Harry sighed, pouring himself another firewhiskey too, "The custody papers came from Ginny this morning, but when I sent Parsnip he couldn't track her down, they were for full permanent custody."

"Wherever she is I'll bet Astoria's with her." Draco said, thoughtfully, he caught Harry's eye, "We really messed up, didn't we?"

"Yeah." Harry said truthfully, "We really did."

Both men downed their second firewhiskey but didn't get a chance to have a third because they were distracted by Hermione shouting at Gwen. They left the room and saw Gwen screaming and shouting as Hermione carried her, "No Guinevere Granger! I've told you countless times that you aren't allowed in Severus's lab when he's working! It's dangerous!"

Hermione sighed as she put the girl in her room and closed the door with the threat that she wasn't getting out until she calmed down. Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione who sighed, "She always wants to be in his bloody lab and he messes around with all sorts of potions up there."

Harry smiled slightly, "She likes Severus, she's a little attached to him, is that really a bad thing?"

Hermione bit her lip, "No, for her, no. It's Rose and the boys I'm worried about, I don't want them to feel like he's replacing Ron."

"Well they'll still see Ron at weekends, won't they?" Harry asked as Hermione walked in the direction of the stairs down to the second floor.

"Who knows." Hermione said with a sigh, "I guess we'll find out on Friday if he turns up to pick them up." With that she walked down the stairs and Harry turned to Draco, "Want a tour of the rest of the house?" He asked as he tried to lighten the mood.

Draco nodded, "Sure." He replied and they made their way up to the 4th floor. There were only two doors on this floor, Harry opened the one directly ahead of them and all the lights came to life, Draco gaped at the huge ballroom with it's amazing high roof, there were about 10 tables and a large dance floor.

"It doesn't get used much." Harry admitted, "Just for anniversaries or important birthdays." He shut the door and the room darkened, the other door led to a huge bathroom, Harry then led Draco up to the 5th floor of the marvellous house. Again there were only two doors here, the roof of the ballroom was so high it took up two floors. The door to the left was slightly ajar and blue smoke was coming from it, Harry rolled his eyes, "That's Severus's lab, he makes experimental potions in it, it was Ron's study but when he moved out she switched it around."

Harry then opened the door to the right which led into a large bedroom with a big window that the light shone through. It was a simple room with just a bed, a sofa and a small square coffee table, there was a door leading to an ensuite bathroom in it too, "And this is my room." Harry said as he sat down on the sofa, with a wave of his wand their half empty bottle of whiskey and their glasses were on the table in front of them, craving the numb feeling firewhiskey brought Draco sat down next to Harry on the couch.

The two men drank in silence until the bottle was finished, they were both so immersed in their thoughts it took a few minutes for them to notice the tapping sound at the window but Draco noticed it first, he glanced up and was surprised to see his owl there. He opened the window and let it in, it dropped three envelopes in front of him. Moving back to the sofa Draco opened them, the first was divorce forms signed by Astoria, he just needed to sign them and send them back, the second envelope contained custody papers and Draco's breath hitched when he read the words aloud, "Full permanent custody of Neve Saffron Malfoy and Katherine Ruby Malfoy."

"She's definitely with Ginny." Harry said dully as he stared into his glass. Draco's hands were shaking a little as he opened the 3rd and final envelope to find a letter from Astoria,

_Draco,_

_Ginny and I decided to start anew. We moved to a foreign country, I won't tell you where because we don't want you to come looking for us. You probably think we're monsters, leaving our kids like that but we have our reasons and don't expect you to understand them. You'll probably never see us again so best regards. The kids are with your parents, pick them up whenever you want, they are now you're responsibility._

_Astoria._

He had read the letter aloud and Harry had scoffed, summoning another bottle of whiskey and forgetting the glass this time he swigged from the bottle. Draco grabbed the bottle from him and did the same thing, both of them aware of how royally screwed up their lives were forever going to be from this day forward.

**TBC.**

**Just the epilogue to go now and it's set a few years after this chapter =)**


	11. Epilogue

_A Life of Lies_

_Chapter 11 - Epilogue_

_**A/N - Yay it's done! Now I just need to finish "Into the Past" **_

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!**_

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><p>The welcoming feast was usually a dreadfully boring event that everyone hated and fell asleep through, including the professors. This year however it was different because many of the professor's kids were coming to Hogwarts.<p>

The head table had changed a little in the 4 years that had passed. Hermione had joined them, she'd quit her job as the head of the department for the protection of magical creatures and had become the new charms teacher at Hogwarts. Luna still taught COMC and Neville Herbology and with Minerva officially retired Severus was the head teacher and to the surprise of the students and several of the professors he did a damn good job of it.

The little first years filed into the hall in a line, Neve and the twins amongst them, Neves bright blonde hair was easy to spot amongst the see of brunettes and redheads. From her spot next to Severus Hermione waved to her daughter who was in her 2nd year this year, along with Lily.

"You've already corrupted one of my children I don't want you corrupting anymore." Hermione muttered playfully. Severus smirked at his girlfriend of 4 years, everyone doubted they'd ever get married but they lived together and the kids adored Severus.

"I'd only known her for 2 years before she was sorted." He muttered back, but Hermione could hear the smugness in his voice, she snorted, "Yeah well one child of mine being a Slytherin is bad enough, if two more become Slytherin's you're gonna pay."

Severus smirked and waved at Samson and Nicholas as they waved at he and Hermione both of them grinning eagerly, looking forward to being sorted.

"If it's any consolation Hermione." Harry cut in from his seat on her other side, "Draco corrupted Lily too, I mean a Potter in Slytherin, it's a bloody outrage."

Draco grinned at Harry, "I know, it's brilliant right?"

"Do you know what would be hilarious?" Harry said to Hermione but he knew Draco could hear him, "If Neve was sorted into Gryffindor."

Draco choked on the water he'd been drinking, "I'd disown her."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Don't be so melodramatic." She teased.

They stopped winding each other up for a moment and Hermione glanced around the hall, wondering how many Weasley's would be joining them this year.

Her eyes sought out Victoire at the Ravenclaw table who was in her 6th year and she'd been raised to hate Harry and Hermione with a passion, Bill had been so close to Ginny and he'd immediately turned against the boy who lived when the news got out. Her younger sister Dominique was in 4th year in Gryffindor and shared that view. The youngest of Bill and Fleurs children was the same age as Rose and Lily and was also in Slytherin. He, despite his parent's views was friends with the two girls.

Percy had two children, Molly II was in the year above Rose and Lily in Gryffindor and she didn't really have any opinions on the whole thing. In fact of the entire clan Percy was the only one who would stop and have a conversation with Harry and Hermione if he passed them on the street. Percy's younger child, Lucy was in the same year as Rose and Lily but she was in Hufflepuff and only had Herbology with the girls, they got on alright though, Percy hadn't corrupted his children the way some of the others had.

Fred and Angelina had mixed reactions to the ordeal, Angelina still spoke to Harry but Fred didn't, their children were too young to be coming up to Hogwarts though, as were George and Katie's. Again Katie would talk to Harry but George wouldn't, it was such a complicated mess.

This year there actually weren't any Weasley's in the line, there were two Grangers, a Malfoy, a Longbottom and two Lovegoods. Neville had a short marriage with Pansy Parkinson which had been weird all around, but either way it had left them with a son, Grant Frank Longbottom. Luna hadn't even married the father of her twin boys, Lorcan and Lysander, she and the son of Newt Scamander had a short fling when they'd been working together. Now she and Neville were together and thankfully their children got along.

Draco and Harry knew what it was like to have to raise two families to be one. When their wives had left them with full custody of their children they'd figured it out, Draco had moved in to Grimmauld place with Neve and Kathy and they had explained in the best way possible the situation to their kids.

It had been 4 years now and they were still living together. Kathy didn't fully understand yet but the two older children did. The way they saw it they just had two fathers instead of a father and mother.

The sorting began with "Abbot, Rebecca." She went into Hufflepuff like her Mother. Everyone was paying close attention now as the letters went by.

The letters ticked by until they reached 'G' and under the table Hermione grabbed Severus's hand, he smiled slightly at her as the first of her twin's names was shouted,

"Granger, Nicholas."

The boy walked up to the stool, not looking nervous like a lot of the others and sat down on it, allowing the hat to be placed on his head. It didn't take long to decide where he belonged, "Slytherin!" It yelled and Severus cheered loudly as the boy joined his sister and his cousins at the silver and green table.

Hermione glared at him and hissed, "Stop corrupting my children!"

Harry and Draco shared an amused chuckle at the two of them, and then the next name was called from the list, "Granger, Samson."

Samson hurried forward, looking a lot more anxious than his brother and sat down carefully on the stool, the hat was placed on his head and took a little longer to figure out where to place the second twin, however it eventually shouted, "Slytherin!"

Hermione hit Severus as he cheered again, "I hate you. I swear to God if Gwen's in Slytherin I'm leaving you!"

Severus only laughed at the woman, rolling his eyes at Draco and Harry who smirked, Hermione could get a bit wound up when it came to her children, she groaned as the 'H's were sorted, "Ron's going to go crazy, he smashed the wall when Rose was sorted, that's three of his children in Slytherin, he might actually murder me, or you." Hermione said, Severus smirked, "He can try, he wouldn't get very far."

Ron had stayed as civil as he could, he picked the kids up and dropped them off, no conversation was needed. He'd remarried to Lavender Brown and they had two younger children together.

Harry and Draco hadn't seen or heard from Ginny or Astoria since they'd left. The list got to the 'L's and the entire head table quieted to watch Neville's son be sorted.

"Longbottom, Grant." The boy looked a lot like Neville had at his age, he was quite short and a little dumpy with a round face, he'd inherited Pansy's dark black hair and blue eyes, but he looked very much like Neville as he walked forward nervously and sat on the stool.

"Gryffindor!" It roared immediately.

Looking relieved he hurried over to the table, Neville chuckled as he watched her go, and muttered under his breath gleefully, "Pansy and Blaise are going to hate that." Draco chuckled, Pansy had remarried not long after her divorce to Neville and having a kid in Gryffindor would be her worst nightmare, just like it would be his.

Next up were Luna's two boys, "Lovegood, Lorcan." was called up first and the second the sorting had was placed on his head it screamed, "Ravenclaw!" Luna clapped and smiled as he joined his house and watched as Lysander stepped up to sit on the rickety stool.

"Hufflepuff!" The hat yelled and Neville groaned, "They are all in different houses." He said as Lysander ran off to the Hufflepuff table.

Luna only smiled, "They still live together Neville, it won't make a difference." Wise as always.

Several other students were sorted before it was eventually Neve's turn, "Malfoy, Neve."

Neve walked up to the stool confidently and sat down, the hat was placed on her head and it took a few moments to decide. Harry watched Draco in amusement as he anxiously watched the girl being sorted; he'd been the same last year when Lily was getting sorted.

Eventually the hat made its decision and yelled, "Gryffindor!"

A ripple of laughter went around the head table as Draco stared in horror at the girl grinning at him from the table of scarlet and gold. He turned to Harry, "You corrupted my child."

Harry just shrugged, grinning at the Slytherin, "You corrupted mine." He retorted, a Potter in Slytherin and a Malfoy in Gryffindor, payback was a bitch.

"I can't believe this." Draco whined, "Kathy had better be a Slytherin."

"Lily's a Slytherin and she's practically yours." Harry reasoned, "We should be happy, we have a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, we can't get much fairer than that."

Draco snorted, "Yes we can, they could both be in Slytherin."

"Oh I don't think so, they could both be in Gryffindor." Harry said, and they both felt an argument coming on, not a real one of course, one of the bickering kind.

Neville rolled his eyes, "I wish they'd both been in Hufflepuff so you two didn't have to constantly bicker about it."

Harry and Draco shared a look and shut up for a moment, but it didn't last long, "I still think she should have been in Slytherin…"

As the chuckles echo-ed around the table Harry and Draco were happy, despite the houses that their corrupted children had been sorted into, the daily prophet had a field day when they found out of course and reactions had been mixed, both men had lost a few friends but the ones they had kept were the real ones. They did think about Ginny and Astoria often but the fact they'd left and cut all ties had made it easier for the two men to move on and though they'd talked around it for so long they'd eventually ended up exactly where they said they would never be, in a real permanent relationship.

The bomb had gone off, the pieces had been shot to hell, the two men had spent months digging around in the wreckage to salvage whatever they could and then they'd cleared it all up, all the mess and the debris and they'd started over. They'd built in the foundations of the old lives they had left and together they'd crafted a masterpiece in it's place. In the end the bomb had been the best thing to ever happen to both of them, it's funny how tragedy can work that way, bringing the two most unlikely people together in the most unlikely way, yet creating a situation that somehow, wasn't so impossible anymore. 

**THE END.**


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